


Business Partners

by Debboluh



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Care of Magical Creatures, Developing Relationship, Diary/Journal, F/M, Friendship, Honesty, Medium Burn, Metamorphmagus, Not Epilogue Compliant, Orphanage, Potions Master Draco Malfoy, Romance, Soulmates, Veela, Veela Draco Malfoy, Werewolves, malfoy great grandparents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-10-24 06:29:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 34,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10736055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Debboluh/pseuds/Debboluh
Summary: Andromeda Tonks approaches Hermione with an idea to start an orphange and community centre for children and families who have been affected by Voldemort’s werewolves, other extra-magical children and families are more than welcome! But what secret is their potions master hiding? And will Hermione ever find out? Draco's mood swings are giving Hermione whiplash, first he doesn't care and then he offering his own house!?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and terms that appear in this work. I am not making money from this. Characters and terms belong to J K Rowling. 
> 
> side note: If y'all don't know why authors include a disclaimer, it is because until recently authors used to prosecute fanfiction authors for creating fanworks. Please look into it and educate yourselves, it's interesting and horrifying what lengths some authors will go to to stop fanworks.

 

 _ATTN MS GRANGER_  
_C/O DEPARTMENT OF CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES_  


_Dear Ms Granger,_

_As per our conversation during my grandson’s third birthday, I would like to set up a meeting with you in regards to families and orphans of the most recent war who have been infected by rogue werewolves who were sided with He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named._

_My son-in-law Remus, who, as you know, was a werewolf, spoke to me about his experience growing up and living as a werewolf. He felt alone and isolated from support and community. I would like to set up an orphanage and support house for children and families who are dealing with lycanthropy. As you know, my child, Nymphadora, had extraneous magical abilities, as does my grandchild. As you may be aware, Mr Potter was named Godfather of Teddy, I have, however, been appointed his guardian. I believe it would also be good for Teddy, as well as other children and families, to have a support system with others who can understand them. Metamorphism is a very rare genetic mutation and it would benefit Teddy to be around children similar to them. I know Nymphadora had a difficult time growing up and I want the new generation to be more accepting of extra-magical wizards and witches._

_Please owl me your reply with a suitable meeting time._

_Kind Regards,_

_Andromeda Tonks_


	2. Chapter 1

“Well, why do I have to do it?” Draco asked, barely containing his ire. His chest was pounding ever since she had walked into his office which didn’t help his mood. He was finding it hard to concentrate and keep calm.

“Mr Malfoy, you were Professor Snape’s favourite student and are gifted in potions! You are the natural choice, besides, helping orphans of war will be a good thing for your reputation.” Hermione said in her matter-of-fact voice.

“A war, Ms Granger, that I was on the wrong side of.” Draco replied in his own snarky tenor.

“That wasn't your choice.” Hermione returned. Hermione’s voice and eyes softened at remembering his wizengamot trial.

“Fucking hell!” Draco’s hands gripped his robes tighter in his lap, “I knew you were bringing me trouble. I shouldn't have let you into my office.” _I hate how everyone knows about my life during the war. Those fucking wizengamot trials being public and using veritaserum! It wasn't fair!_  

“Please, Malfoy, it would help the children and families so much. The department can subsidize all costs, we just need you to make the wolfsbane potion, we can pay you and you can hire an assistant. I wouldn't ask you if I didn't trust you to do a good job.” Hermione added hesitantly, Draco scoffed. 

“How can you, of all people, trust me after what I let happen to you in my own home?” Draco asked, only half wanting an explanation. 

“I trust you because I've grown up with you. I punched you in the face when we were thirteen. I have put up with your bullying for six years. But I know you aren't all that bad, you aren't a murderer and I know you were in a shitty situation just trying to survive and make sure your own family came out alive. I know you were sickened by what happened to me by your aunt. I still dislike you for being a bully, but I'm objective enough to sympathize with your situation and I trust you to help these kids. Good day, Mr Malfoy.” Hermione stood and showed herself out of the office, Draco watched her leave. 

“God damn it!” Draco yelled and threw a glass that was sitting on his desk, which shattered against the wall across the room. “tsk. Reparo. Accio glass.”

Draco reached inside his desk drawer for one of the vials of suppressant potion. He had felt the creature inside him stir when Hermione had entered his office and his heart had started hammering. He had never felt like that before. It was as if the creature had its own heartbeat. The sensation hadn’t helped Draco’s mood when she had heaped a huge responsibility on his lap. The potion had him feeling more like himself and he thought the proposal over with a clear head.

_She has a point. I can brew the potion easily and it would be good for the family name. If it’s subsidized and I get an assistant it shouldn't be too bad. As long as I'm in charge it should be fine. It is a good cause, it will help a lot of people. Get over yourself Draco! As long as no one finds out, it will be fine. But it’s working with the government… didn’t sound like the plans had come very far.. Knowing some of those people in the Ministry there would certainly be some roadblocks; a lot of people still mistrust and fear werewolves, even if they’re children._

Draco picked up his quill and a piece of parchment and wrote:

_Dear Ms Granger,_

_Are you available tonight to discuss details about this potions position for the extraneous magical children orphanage. I assume you've created a name which makes an unnecessary acronym. We can discuss everything over dinner at the address below._  

_I'll be there from 6pm._

_-  DM_

\---

Utterly unreasonable! Hermione thought as she left Draco Malfoy’s office. Walking briskly the way she had entered. His receptionist was only mildly curious as to why Hermione had requested a meeting in the first place, but quietly went back to their own work. When Hermione had arrived at the apparition point she promptly vanished.

_Absolutely no reason to reject the proposal so vehemently! Didn’t even consider-_ She crossed from in front of her fireplace in the living room to the kitchen to have a cup of tea to collect herself. 

_Maybe I shouldn’t’ve mentioned anything about his wizengamot trial. It still appears to be a touchy subject_. She dipped a scotch finger biscuit into her tea and bit the soggy end off before it fell into her cup _. He’s so unreasonable! Maybe he can’t get over what happened in the past. The rivalry, the hatred, the war… maybe he is stuck. You have to keep moving forward._  

After a few minutes of introspection, an owl rapped on her window, pulling her out of her thoughts. As she read the note Draco had sent her she went through a range of emotions: confusion being the most prominent. As usual Hermione didn't have any plans for dinner, unless you count leftovers from dinner the night before and rewatching BBCs Pride and Prejudice miniseries again. She scribbled a reply saying she will meet him tonight on a scrap piece of paper and sent it back with the Malfoy owl. 

_He must’ve come to his senses; it’s a good thing I left the information with him to look over. Dinner date with Malfoy.. Well, business dinner with Malfoy. If it's Malfoy I had better dress to impress. Hmm, I think the black A-line dress, purple blazer, stockings, sensible heel. Maybe the silver necklace with the emerald pendant and matching earrings; the subtle acknowledgement to his school house won't be unnoticed. I'll put my hair in a chignon and a bit of mascara. That's appropriate for a business dinner. Okay, tea time is over. Lucky I scheduled the rest of the day off. I had a feeling meeting with Malfoy would lead to something unexpected. He's predictably unpredictable._

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 2

Malfoy sat at the back of the bar, his attention split between his whiskey and soda and the front door. He had arrived at five-thirty so he could be well and truly buzzed before having to deal with Granger for an entire dinner. Draco didn't want to admit it, but he was nervous. He wasn't sure how he should be feeling about having dinner with Hermione Granger. She was his academic rival, he wasn't sure if she knew it, but if she was number one in their year, he was second. She was also friends with Harry Potter, the boy Draco had tried so hard to impress in Madam Malkin's before they had started at school. Draco didn’t know the kid was Harry Freaking Potter, he was just excited to meet a different kid his own age who wasn’t a part of his parents circle of friends. Hermione was also a Muggleborn, which his upbringing had taught him to look down on. However, Draco just wanted to be left alone to research potions, and a small piece of him wanted Hermione to acknowledge him for being as capable as she is. But here he was, tipsy, and jerking his eyes to the door anytime someone walked in. He was also on edge due to his reaction to her earlier that afternoon in his office. The suppressant potion he took after she left would be effective for a few more hours, but he had a vial in his coat pocket just in case. An unfortunate side-effect of the suppressant potion was that it made him more honest than he would usually be, but the alternative was much worse for his pride. 

As he drowned his third glass, Hermione walked into the Muggle bar, she looked warily around the room to get her bearings then strolled up to the bartender. Draco knew the location would confuse her. He stood, made sure his black slacks and shirt weren’t wrinkled and walked around so he could greet her, a mischievous gleam in his eyes and his heart rate spiked. 

“Excuse me,” Hermione said to gain the bartenders attention, “I'm here to meet someone. I'm looking for a man around five-nine with platinum blonde hair. Have you seen him?” 

The bartender didn't respond, but only shifted their eyes from Hermione’s to somewhere above her head, causing her to turn around and almost headbutt Draco’s chin. 

“I'm actually five-eleven, Miss Granger.” Draco drawled, nodding to the bartender, “I'll have another, what would you like to drink?”

Hermione had blushed slightly embarrassed about being so close to Malfoy and not realising it. The smell of his aftershave had made her flustered. She had stepped to one side to get some distance between them and only vaguely heard Malfoy ask for her drink order. “I'll have a vodka sunrise, please. Thank you.” 

Her meek response had caused Draco to smirk, “and a vodka sunrise, thanks. Put it on my tab, Darcy.” The bartender went about making the drinks. 

“Is this where we're going to be discussing..” Hermione paused meaningfully raising her eyebrows, “I didn't realise we were going to be meeting in this side of town. I thought we'd meet somewhere more… magical.” 

Draco laughed, “Miss Granger, you are not good at innuendo. Don't worry about it. This is just a meeting place, after all.” 

“Whiskey soda and vodka sunrise.” Darcy said to Draco. 

“Thanks,” Draco grabbed the drinks; Hermione followed him to a booth at the far end of the bar. She was stunned by how different Malfoy was acting now compared to when she had met him four hours ago. 

“I want to start by apologising for my behaviour this afternoon, I behaved poorly. I was raised better than to act like that in front of someone offering a business deal. If I'm perfectly honest, it was a shock. Usually, a new business proposal is sent in a written format and not in person.” He sipped his drink. 

“I'm sorry for shocking you like that Mr Malfoy, I thought you might not even open a letter from me, so I thought if I brought it to you in person then you couldn't ignore me. My boss advised against it, but you know me, I thought I knew better. It’s just so urgent that this project gets up and running. I wanted to know your response immediately so I had time to find a replacement if you turned us down.” 

Draco nodded, “I’m not sure I would've read it straight away if it was in the usual format. So, tell me, what's the anagram, I'm dying to know.” he joked lightly. 

“It doesn't have one yet.” Hermione admitted sheepishly, “at the moment it's being referred to as ‘Granger It’s Better If We Don’t Do Anything, Leave The Werewolves To Themselves’, but I call it ‘The Tonks Home for Extra-Magical Children, for the moment.” she looked downcast as she took a sip of her drink. 

“People do still stigmatize it. Tonks, huh?” Draco asked neutrally

“Andromeda Tonks wrote to me about starting an orphanage and requested government support. She will be the head caretaker. She's your aunt, right?”

“I never formally met her, or her daughter. Mum used to talk to me about them sometimes. I had heard that my cousin was a metamorphmagus and married Professor Lupin. Is that why Mrs Tonks is going to be in charge?”

“Yes, that's right, but Tonks and Remus also had a baby shortly before they died. They’re a metamorphmagus like their mother. There was a chance they could be born with lycanthropy, and since werewolves like Greyback were on a rampage during the war there's a lot of orphans and families with new werewolves. Remus had such a hard time growing up and living with the wider wizarding community’s prejudice that we wanted there to be a community to support them and raise awareness that with proper medication there is nothing to worry about with lycanthropy or any other extra-magical person. Ron’s brother Bill and his wife, Fleur, who is a quarter Veela, are also going to be involved. We're reaching out to other extra-magical families to gain support.” 

“So, it sounds like you've got a list of people who need support, some guardians, someone to make wolfsbane potion,” Draco paused, looking Hermione in the eye, “all you need is somewhere to put them and then the government to pay for it? If I remember correctly, you haven’t been with the Department very long.” 

“Uh,” Hermione hesitated, “I am on the lower end of the food chain. Although the Minister knows me well enough, I don’t want to rely on my hero status to get what I want. But it is proving difficult to gain any support. Officially, the Ministry wants to fund us, but it isn't doing much else to help at this stage. I wanted to cover all my bases with who is going to be staffed, and a list of families who show interest as well as a place to house everyone. We tried to fix up Grimauld Place, but Sirius Black's mother's portrait is permanently stuck to the landing wall and won't be removed. She's always swearing and cursing out everyone because none of us are from the Great and Noble House of Black. It might be big enough but there isn't a lot of room for growth. But after I present all this to the Ministry, there’s no telling how long it will take them to start funding us.” Hermione finished, Draco paused for a moment to sip his drink while he thought. His heart was beating fast, but he didn’t let that show. He wasn’t feeling quite himself, and it had nothing to do with the suppressant potion, he knew that much. 

“There's a hardly used Malfoy villa in Suffolk. It could be used as an orphanage. It’s a safe distance from Muggles on a large property and there’s room for expansion of the building if necessary. We haven't used it since before the war, so it may need some refurbishment. I'd be willing to lease it to the Ministry for the cause, or -” 

“Malfoy,” Hermione was interrupted in shock, “we aren't even at dinner yet and you're offering a countryside villa for orphans some of which are werewolves. Are you alright? Are you sick? Dying? Why would you do this when you practically cursed me out of your office only four hours ago?” 

“As I said: I was surprised. I thought about it and I think this is a good cause. While I could help with removing my great aunts portrait, as I am a descendant, and it requires blood magic of someone who isn't cast out as a blood traitor, but as you say, there isn't much room for growth. The country villa isn't in use and perfect for something like this. I don’t need it; we’ve plenty of properties around the place. To sweeten the deal, I'll even include house elves, who will be entitled to pay and long service leave.” Draco paused, “and speaking of dinner,” he checked his watch, “let's go get some. Follow me, bring your drink.” 

Draco led Hermione down the hallway where the bathrooms were located. Before Hermione could ask what Malfoy was up to, he tapped his wand against a huge ornate mirror at the end of the hallway and ushered Hermione through before any muggle came by. 

“There's a magical entrance in a muggle bar! How long has this place been here?” Hermione asked as soon as Draco stepped in behind her. 

“You didn't think a bar called Sorcerer's Apprentice was muggle, did you?” Draco smirked at Hermione 

“I didn't see the name.” Hermione muttered, “It’s clever. So, is this a new place?” 

“Yeah, the muggle side had a grand opening three months ago. The magic side had a soft opening the same night. Come on.”

“I thought it was weird to meet you in a muggle bar.”

“I think you'll find, Miss Granger, there's a lot you don't know about me.” The glint in Malfoy’s eyes gave Hermione goose-bumps and her heart skipped a beat. 

The pair was met by the maître d’ at the end of the hallway. The layout seemed to be a mirror image of the muggle bar. The entrance they came through had the bathroom in the same places and the decor matched, although the magical side felt more extravagant due to floating candles and other magical conveniences. 

“The usual, Mr Malfoy?” the maître d’ asked 

“Not today, Banks, we'll need a private room for dinner.” 

“Understood, please follow Bianca, your server, to your table.” 

“Right this way please.” Bianca led the pair to the back of the restaurant section into a private dining room. Draco pulled out Hermione’s chair for her, much to her surprise.

“Draco, do you own this place?” Hermione asked. She was so shocked she didn't realise she called him by his first name, Draco didn't mind in the least.

“My business provided financial support to Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan when Gringott's wouldn't. Fortunately for them I overheard their rehearsal in the Leaky Cauldron before their business meeting. I gave them my card and told them to call me if it didn't go well and they did, begrudgingly.” 

“Why?”

“I suppose they had no other option. Not everyone can get their business backed by The Chosen One like the Weasley’s, can they?” Draco commented in good humour.

“What I mean is, why help them. And for that matter, why are you being so honest?”

“Really, Hermione, you have more sense than that. This bar and restaurant are a brilliant idea for Muggleborn and Half-bloods to live in both worlds and provides a muggle experience for Witch-borns. And I'm being honest with you because there is no point in hiding it; I'm proud if this place and the money it's making for me. As you said, I'm a good person.” Draco sneered, omitting the use of the suppressant potion; she didn’t need to know about that. Hermione’s stomach fluttered at his use of the first name, but she decided she didn’t mind being more casual. 

“For some reason, when you say you're a good person you sound like an arse.” Hermione teased, Draco laughed.

“What would you like for dinner? It can be magically prepared or muggle prepared.” Draco opened the menu in front of him, feigning reading it as he knew what he would order. 

“Oh!” Hermione opened her own menu, Draco watched her, “let's see, chicken and mushroom risotto sounds wonderful!” her eyes glanced up and caught Draco’s stare.

“You look beautiful tonight, Hermione, especially your necklace and earrings.” Draco said, smirking at her embarrassment. 

“So you noticed, hmm? C'est évident, après tout, pourquoi les portai-je?” murmured to herself in her mother's native language. Draco pretended he didn't hear nor understand. 

“White wine with your risotto?” he asked casually,

“Yes, please.” Hermione answered.

After Bianca took their orders Draco shifted into business mode, folding his hands in front of him and squaring his shoulders.  

“In regards to my position in this orphanage, would I just be preparing wolfsbane potion or would I be also supplying the first aid potions like pepper up, sleeping draught, etcetera?” 

“That depends on you and how involved you would like to be. Wolfsbane is priority and while it would save money in the long run, we wouldn't be adverse to an in-house potion master brewing in bulk. Of course, you would be paid extra if you did provide us with first aid potions. However, wouldn't there be some kind of moral issue if we took you up on your offer of your country home? You know, a conflict of interest in being our landlord as well as potions master.” Hermione questioned

“I see what you mean. I suppose if this project of yours goes ahead as government funded then there may be an issue, however, if you were privately owned and I just happened to be a sponsor, I don't see how it would be much of an issue.” 

“The main reason we wanted to be government funded is so the families and children don't have to pay for our support and services.” 

“What if it could be privately owned and operated and still be free for the families?” Draco countered, “There would be a lot more freedom in how the orphanage was managed and much less bureaucratic tape to get through. I'm sure Mr Potter wouldn't mind being a financial partner in this project; he's an orphan, too, right? We can also host fundraisers, which can be a lot of fun, they don’t have to be just cocktail parties, and once we’re running the children can be involved showcasing artwork or Quidditch matches. Where's the downside? If you need it, I can help you setting it up like I've done with this place!” 

“I'll need to think about it, it's a big change to what we had originally planned. I'll need to speak with Andromeda. Draco, you're actually--” 

“Excuse me, your food is ready.” Bianca knocked on the door and entered with two plates of food and two glasses of wine, one red and one white, floating behind her. The risotto and white wine floated down in front of Hermione and the red wine and a large salad landed in front of Draco. 

“Thanks!” Hermione called as Bianca left them again. “Let me know if you want to try; I’m used to Harry and Ron stealing from my plate, so go ahead.” 

“Your plate is safe from me, I'm vegan. I'm surprised you aren't with all your activism.” Draco baited, her eyes flared in friendly challenge.

“Stop picking fights with me Malfoy, we're partners, aren't we?” Hermione smiled. 

“I don't know are we?” he challenged further, spearing rocket, quinoa and pumpkin with his fork and deliberately putting it in his mouth keeping eye contact with Hermione.

“You may have changed, but you are still a git.” Hermione said as she speared chicken and mushroom with her own fork and mimicked his own actions. The rest of dinner went much the same, Draco being somewhat nice then baiting Hermione a little to see her face flush with embarrassment and irritation. Hermione was the same, being cordial to her new business partner, but being just was antagonistic when Draco started it. Maybe it was the wine, but she was having a good time.

 


	4. Chapter 3

As soon as Hermione had told Andromeda about Draco wanting to be more involved and to make the orphanage a private organisation, she wanted to meet with him herself at the Malfoy country estate. Andromeda needed to see for herself what her nephew was like, and what condition the property was in, before she would concede to altering their plans. Hermione had not informed Andromeda that she was approaching Draco Malfoy to be their potioneer before she set up a meeting. 

Hermione found herself standing on the front porch of Malfoy Manor waiting for Andromeda to arrive. She hadn't yet ringed the doorbell as she wanted to appear to have a united front. It didn't look good for them to not arrive at the same time. Hermione was looking over the expanse of the front yard; there was an ornate round fountain in front of her a few meters away, the front gate beyond it. She was reminded of one of her favourite musicals: _The Sound of Music_ , however, before the lyrics of ‘I Have Confidence’ were able worm their way into her conscious, she heard the front door open. 

“You know, Miss Granger, it is customary for visitors to actually alert the homeowners of their presence, even in magical society when we're already alerted to someone loitering on the porch.” Draco mused arrogantly, but Hermione did notice a hint of good humour in his tone. 

“I was waiting for my colleague to arrive, it seemed simpler that way.” Hermione said with a smile as she faced Malfoy. 

“There was something I wanted to say, before Mrs Tonks arrived,” Draco started seriously, “I would like to formally apologise to you about my behaviour when we were children. I was brought up to only think and feel a certain way about certain things. I'm not using it as an excuse, just a fact. But I need you to know that that is not how I feel now. I know it was wrong and utter bigotry. I'm very sorry for everything I did.” Draco was so earnest in his apology Hermione’s chest felt tight which confused her. It was a few moments before she realised she was staring at him and hadn't said anything. With a slight shake of her head and a smile she collected herself. 

“I forgave you a long time ago, Draco. It's water under the bridge.” Hermione had noticed very faint freckles on Draco cheeks and how his grey eyes reflected the clouds in the sky. She blinked a few times and to distract herself she turned to where she was looking before, “I was just thinking how your front yard reminds me of the musical ‘The Sound of Music’.”

“I'm not familiar with musicals,” Draco replied as he stepped forward next to her.

“I'll have to familiarize you then, it wouldn't do for a Malfoy to lack any sort of education,” Hermione teased as she looked up at him again.  Draco smirked but before he could respond they were interrupted by Andromeda apparating on the other side of the gate with a green haired bundle on her hip. She wore a loose maxi skirt and a loose white blouse, a wide brim straw sun hat perched on her head lopsidedly, with leather sandals on her feet. She looked more like a bohemian muggle than a witch born from the noble house of Black. 

“Sorry for being late!” She called as she entered the gate. Her hair falling out of a loose braid where her grandchild held into her, “We’re having some separation issues today!” she called as she walked up the drive, Hermione started walking to greet the older woman, Draco followed suddenly feeling nervous. “I hope it's alright that Teddy tags along today.” Andromeda continued as they all met by the fountain. 

“Of course not, the more the merrier. Pleased to meet you Mrs Tonks, I'm Draco.” Draco offered his hand to the woman, as her right hand was holding Teddy she grabbed his right with her left for an awkward shake. 

“Draco, it's so good to see you again. Please call me Aunty Andy; it was all you could pronounce at the time. I don't think you were much older than Teddy here,” she jostled the tyke in her arms, who buried their head further into his Oma’s hair “Teddy,” Andromeda said in a stern whisper, “as you can see, we won't be separated today, so there is no need to be rude. Come on, I would like you to meet your second cousin, Draco.”

“How is he my second cousin when he's the only cousin!” They heard Teddy whine from within the hair. Hermione stifled a laugh, Draco looked confused, and Andromeda smiled and rolled her eyes 

“Come on now, dearheart, you'll like him, I promise. He's a handsome one! And Hermione is here to; she’s one of your favourites!” 

Teddy slowly turned his face out to see his cousin and Hermione. Teddy saw Hermione first and their features began to change; the short lime green hair became a curly brown mop of hair and their skin darkened to match Hermione's skin colour. Draco could only see the back of the toddler's head, but as it changed he tried very hard not to show the surprise on his face. He knew the kid was a metamorphmagi, but seeing the changes happen with his own eyes was something else entirely. Teddy put his arms out to be held by Hermione. The kid looks like he could be her son, Draco thought, feeling unsettled, but the thought of Hermione with children was firmly planted in his mind and Draco suddenly remembered that he didn't know if Hermione was single or not. A spark of jealousy flared for a moment. 

“Hi Teddy!” Hermione said excitedly, trying to distract the toddler from whatever anxiety they were feeling. “Wow, you've grown up so much since I last saw you! You must be eating all your vegetables!” at the mention of vegetables Teddy's curly hair straightened a little, but Hermione tickled his belly a little causing the kid to screech with laughter. “Tedbear, this is my friend Draco.” Hermione turned so Teddy was facing Draco. When Draco and Teddy made eye contact Teddy’s hair shifted a lighter brown as they looked over his cousin the first time, awe written on their face. Teddy suddenly crowed in laughter and reached for Draco, who instinctively reached out to take them into his arms. Teddy touched Draco’s face a little. 

“Hello, Teddy, your grandmother is my aunty. We're family,” Draco’s voice broke slightly on ‘family’ because as he was talking, Teddy’s features were changing again to white blonde straight hair, grey eyes and their skin paled so they now looked like a miniature Draco. Andromeda and Hermione smirked conspiratorially to each other. 

“Shall we go inside to have some morning tea before we head off to the country estate?” Draco offered, still holding Teddy who had now decided to play with Draco’s previously immaculately groomed hair. Hermione was surprised at how natural Draco looked with a child in his arms.

“I don't mean to sound rude, Draco, but I was wondering if my sister and her husband were here? You see, your father absolutely despises me and well, the feeling is mutual. Last time we saw each other he barred me from seeing my sister or you again.”

“Not to worry, father has taken a long leave of absence from the manor, and mother is currently visiting him, although she does come and go. Due to recent events I have been made head of the household and businesses. You'll find that I do not share my father's beliefs one iota. You are more than welcome in my home, Aunty Andy.”

Draco lead them through the house to a sunroom overlooking the backyard, still carrying Teddy, whose white blonde hair now had a light tint of turquoise.


	5. Chapter 4

During their tea, Andromeda had conjured a few of Teddy’s toys from her bag to keep them occupied. Teddy, of course, demanded their own drink, not wanting to be left out of the tea party. Malfoy’s house elves had also supplied them with a few sandwiches, which Hermione had handed to Teddy to eat. Draco and Andromeda had talked politely, which mainly consisted of Andromeda catching up with her nephew.

“How was your time at Hogwarts? I understand you were placed in Slytherin.” Andromeda had asked 

“Hogwarts was Hogwarts, a part from house rivalries I didn't get in too much trouble,” Draco glanced at Hermione with a smirk, “and, yes, I was in Slytherin. I'm embarrassed to admit, Aunty, but I don't know what house you were placed.” 

“I was in Slytherin, too. The Hat tried for Hufflepuff, but I pleaded for Slytherin to keep my family happy. As it turned out, I disappointed them regardless. How did you get along with the Mermaids?” Andromeda asked casually. 

“Mermaids!?” Hermione interjected suddenly. 

“The Slytherin common room is under the lake and someone made the ceiling transparent. Mermaids often look in to see what's happening. Actually, someone had taught them sign language as they're much nicer if you pay them attention instead of ignoring them.” Draco informed Hermione, who looked shocked and impressed. 

“Oh, that tradition is still going strong, I'm so glad!” Andromeda said. Hermione had burst forth with her own line of questions about mermaids and sign language and what happens when you ignore the Mermaids. 

Another of Andromeda’s questions had asked about Draco’s friends.

“ - and an upstanding Malfoy-Black like yourself must have good friends, Draco, dear.” 

Draco was surprised by her family pride despite them casting her out as a blood traitor. 

“I am close friends with Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass.” 

“All from traditional Slytherin backgrounds I'm sure your father is quite pleased. Good connections to have too.” 

“Yes, Aunty, although, despite our initial reasons for being friends, which was networking, we're actually quite close in our bond against our bigoted parents. Well, with the exception or Blaise and Daphne whose parents are mostly neutral.” Draco sipped his tea, he did notice Hermione staring between the two, and Andromeda simply nodded her head. 

“Good lad. Learning from past mistakes. I'd love to meet your friends one day.” Andromeda smiled slightly, pleased that Draco didn't seem to be too much like his father. 

Hermione was glad for this meeting as it also gave her a chance to get to know Draco better, too. She smiled and checked her watch. 

“We should get going to the country estate.” Draco said, noticing that Hermione checked her watch. 

Draco first apparated Andromeda and Teddy, then he collected Hermione. Draco had apparated them in front of the gates. The property was surrounded by a forest, with 8 foot high pine trees along the perimeter, charmed to keep anyone or anything crossing them.

“There's a distraction charm still in place for any muggles, and nothing can get through the pine tree fence. I already changed the wards so none of my parents’ old associates can enter. Ok, there's a door through here, and at this stage, only opens with this key.” Draco fished an ornate key out of his pocket and pushed back some of the foliage. Hermione stared in wonder, _this is like The Secret Garden_ , her thoughts squealed in excitement. 

Draco opened the gate and ushered the women and Teddy in before him. They were greeted by vast and lush bright green lawns, the main house complex was over a hundred metres away, but Hermione could tell it was a massive brick building. To the left was some Quidditch hoops, Hermione imagined Draco flying around as a young boy during the summer, to the right was a greenhouse. As they crossed the immaculate lawn Hermione saw that the manor was a multi-level brick building with stairs leading up to the front door. 

“Draco, I thought you said this place hasn't been used in years. I was expecting it to be overgrown; I bet the inside is immaculate as well!” Hermione commented. 

“Well, there's a charm to keep the grass looking good, you know. The Malfoy family own a few house elves; they do the rounds to clean our different properties. Since no one lives here it doesn't take them very long. But I do believe the interior will need redecorating at least, and I’m open to the idea of either donating the items we don’t want or selling them to use the funds for the orphanage.” 

“Draco, you're being so magnanimous. I'm surprised.” Hermione said in a slightly suspicious tone. Draco knew why, he wanted to impress Hermione, but it was also his instinct telling him that it's what she would do. Draco felt like he had little control of his actions. He knew he was changing and that it wasn't a bad thing, but it was sudden. _Ever since she had walked into his_ office, he thought. Outwardly, Draco shrugged. 

“I'm just brainstorming, Granger, you don't even have to use this place if you don’t think it suitable.” 

“So far, I think this could work well. It's a long distance from muggles, well fenced in. Teddy, what do you think of this yard?” Andromeda asked her grandchild, who was walking beside her.

“So big!” Teddy squealed and ran ahead a little, his hair turning a more concentrated turquoise. 

“Would you like to finish looking around the yard, or we could tour the inside and then go on to the back yard?” Draco offered.

“Go inside?” Hermione asked Andromeda. 

“Inside it is!” Andromeda agreed, Draco continued to lead the group up the stone steps to the foyer. Hermione took Teddy’s hand to make sure they didn't get too far away. 

The foyer had a high ceiling, the walls painted a soft bright colour, which was in contrast to the Malfoy Manor to be obvious that this was a summer residence so it felt more like a seaside hotel to Hermione. Teddy even let out a soft “wow” at the elegant grandeur.

“Draco, are you sure about offering us the place? It's so extravagant!” Hermione asked in hushed tones, feeling like any noise would disturb the ambiance. 

“I'm very sure. I mentioned to you before it hasn't been used in about five years. Before that we only came here every other year as we have other properties in different countries and we'd cycle through them. If it weren't for the house elves it would be collecting dust. To the right there's formal living room. This way,” Draco led them through the foyer; there was a staircase on the left going to the second floor. 

The living room ceilings were just as high as the foyer and the living room looked like an expensive furniture showroom; White lounges, pine wooden furniture accented with metallic rose golds. There was a wizard's chess board set up by the window, the greenhouse visible in the distance. The living room was connected to a dining room, mahogany wood panelling and crimson borders. The dining table could seat twelve people easily, but the room was by no means full. A lounge was in the next room, which had a bar, glass display cabinet and a round table. Draco referred to it as a parlour, but Hermione figured it was a men-only lounge, by the still stale smell of cigar smoke. Crossing a hallway which connected back to the foyer was the kitchen, more wooden features and marble countertops. Beyond the kitchen was a sunroom which had a white small round table and chairs, floor to ceiling windows overlooked the backyard and forest. There was a counter on the wall with a tea service. On the opposite side, there were sliding doors which lead to a patio outside. Draco led them back to the foyer, “we'll come back to this.” Draco said and turned around. The tour went much the same in the left side of the house: big rooms with expensive furniture and knickknacks. There was a study, two other lounge rooms with different colour schemes and a library with a spiral staircase which went to the second floor and another spiral staircase to a reading nook in a third floor tower. When Draco had opened the doors Hermione almost cried. 

“Draco, this library is fantastic!” Hermione said, “Have you read all of these books?” Draco smirked,

“Well, most of them, but some of them are in Greek.” Draco teased cheekily

“Stop joking. Do you have a catalogue of all the books? We'd have to make sure they're appropriate for children.”

“If I said we didn't, would you make me make one or would you be willing to do it yourself? There are some pretty rare books here…”Draco trailed off 

“I suppose I could get time off to go through and catalogue properly with the Hewey decimal system, like the Hogwarts library uses.” Hermione thought aloud. 

“Oma!” Teddy called, pulling Andromeda’s skirt a little to get her attention, “Carry!”

“Okay, sugarquill, up you go. Are you getting tired? I told you it'll be a busy day. Do you want me to get your stroller so you can have a nap?” Teddy shook their head in a ‘no’, “Alright, then.” Andromeda strode to a couch nearby, Draco and Hermione followed her.

“Draco, dear, what rooms haven't we seen on this floor and upstairs?” Andromeda asked

“There’s a bathroom just outside that door, “Draco gestured to a door to the far right, “and it leads to another sunroom and patio to the backyard. Upstairs there are about seven large bedrooms across two wings, two with an en suite bathroom, two singular bathrooms, two studies and the rest of the library. In the opposite wing there's another third floor tower that's usually an owlery. The bedrooms are large enough to fit multiple beds, like the dormitories at Hogwarts.”

“Hermione, what do you think? If you want to scout upstairs be my guest, I'll stay down here with Teddy.”

“Maybe I'll have a quick tour of one of the wings just for a peek so I can see it for myself.” Hermione said 

“Sure. Is there anything I can get you before we go upstairs?” Draco offered his aunt. 

“Nothing I can't conjure for myself. You kids have fun.” she winked at Malfoy, his eyes widened a little. 

Draco led Hermione up the spiral staircase to the second level of the library, Hermione reading all the spines along the way so she could to determine what genres they had stocked.

“Okay, so this is the west wing.” Draco felt the excitement Hermione had from the library, he cleared his throat, “on the left is the bathroom,” he opened doors to the rooms as he introduced them,  “across there's a study,” they walked on a bit, “here's a guest bedroom, another guest bedroom is across, they're similar in size and decor as you'll notice. Mother hosted some gatherings in the summer solstice; she said it was rude not to expect some guests to stay overnight.” 

They walked down the hall a little bit more, this tour being very quick compared to the leisurely pace of the downstairs tour. “This was my bedroom,” Draco hesitated, Hermione’s interest spiked. For the other rooms Hermione has just poked her head through the door for a peek, for this particular room Hermione walked right in. Draco’s heart skipped a beat. 

“Ooh! Now this I need to see.” Hermione said a faint blush in her cheeks. 

“You don't have to, I haven't been in this room for years,” his palms started to feel sweaty. 

Hermione inspected the room closely, looking at his personal bookshelf which held books and decorative items. There was a moving photograph of Draco and his parents, as well as one of Draco, Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy taken in front of the Hogwarts Express. 

“When was this photo taken?” Hermione asked, her eyes shining slightly

“First year,”

“Before we had the pleasure of meeting,” Hermione confirmed, Draco nodded, “I remember meeting you on the train when I was looking for Neville’s toad,” Hermione laughed with a sigh, “you made a joke about Neville actually bringing a toad and I said you were one to talk and said you looked like a toad.” Hermione paused, “you went so red! It was a lie though; I thought you were quite handsome. I just thought you weren't being fair to one of the first wizards I'd ever met.” 

“I remember. I was showing off in front of my friends. That was actually the reason I started bullying you, ‘ _how dare this cute girl call me a toad?’_ , is what I thought,” Draco reached out to brush some of Hermione’s hair out if her face, Hermione looked up into his eyes, they looked dark and stormy. A surge of magical energy sparked between Draco’s fingers and Hermione’s hair. Hermione gasped and stepped backwards, tripping over a broomstick; Draco reached out and caught her before she hit her head on the corner of the bedside table. Their hearts hammering in their chests at the sudden contact. When Hermione had her balance back, Draco dropped his arms from her shoulder and waist, his eyes downcast, and went back to the door of the room.

“We should keep moving,” he said avoiding eye contact, the tops of his ears slightly pink.

 


	6. Chapter 5

Draco’s mood had become more sour, irritable and aggressive in the last two weeks since he last saw Hermione during the tour around the Malfoy country home. Not only did his mood worsen, the strongest dose of the suppressant potion was only working for one or two hours, when it should be lasting for eight hours. Draco knew why. He sighed as he looked at his reflection; his eyes had turned black and the iris had grown so wide that you couldn’t see the whites, his nails had hardened and had developed a golden sheen, even his canine teeth had become more prominent and pointed. Since his symptoms had become obvious, he had tried his best to avoid meeting anyone one person, taking to correspondence for all his business. Draco had been assisting Hermione and Andromeda to set up the orphanage as a private business. Draco smoothed his robes, they were having a fundraiser tonight to announce the Orphanage to the wider wizarding community, they were hoping to gain investors; _there’s a certain amount of public pressure to donate, and if Potter is involved, people will want to appear to be on his side_ he had reasoned to Hermione and Andromeda. Draco had charged his house elves to clean the house up in preparation for the fundraiser ball, which is where he chose to prepare himself for tonight. A soft knock on his old bedroom door roused Draco from his thoughts. 

“Draco?” Narcissa Malfoy’s voice called through the door, “Do you need any help getting ready for tonight? I want you to know that your father and I are so proud of you and the direction you are taking the company.” 

Draco opened the door; he had been avoiding his parents as well. 

“Draco,” Narcissa gasped, “Draco,” she walked into and lead Draco to his bed and sat beside him, her hand on his arm, the other combing through the hair on the back of his head as she used to do to soothe him as a child, “You’ve met your mate - you never mentioned you were suffering, I thought you were just busy setting up this orphanage. How long have you known, dearheart?” 

“Mother,” Draco responded bitterly, “I do not want to talk about this. I will be seeing her before the fundraiser tonight, so you and father have no need to worry about the public finding out about the family secret.” 

“Sweetheart, you know it wasn’t my decision to keep this information secret, and you know people would try to take advantage of us if they knew. It is better this way, you agreed when we told you before you came of age.” 

Draco pulled away from his mother and walked across the room, Narcissa eyed her son.

"When did you last see her?” she asked.

“Two weeks,” Draco ground his teeth, fighting the uncontrollable feelings the beast within him made him feel. 

“You touched her, didn’t you? It’s going to take more than seeing her to make these symptoms disappear, Draco. Your Ve-” 

“Stop!” Draco cut over his mother, “I know! I just… I don’t want her to feel obligated to be with me. She’s a bleeding heart, compassionate, she’ll feel obligated. I want her to want me before she knows.” 

After a moment of silence, “You won’t tell me who it is, will you?” 

“No, mum,” Draco walked up and kissed his mother on her forehead, “Aunty Andy will be here tonight for the ball. She misses you.” 

“I don’t know if she’ll forgive me,” Narcissa responded, Draco shrugged, 

“It’s worth a try. And besides, it would look good for the family if you were seen publically endorsing this” Draco added bitterly. 

\---

During the last few weeks Hermione had found herself staring off into space and remembering the feeling of Draco’s arms around her and how fast her heart was beating and the smell of his cologne. Hermione shivered slightly. At the time Hermione had been embarrassed but it also didn’t escape her notice that Draco had avoided seeing her since that day. She kept thinking about how he seemed to prefer to send correspondence via owls rather than be around her physically. Hermione had been thinking about it a lot and she had become withdrawn and depressed. Hermione tried not to overthink what happened with Draco. She had felt like this; grey and empty, before, during the time she was searching for Horcruxes, and again after the war, and once more after her break up with Ron. Hermione hoped that this wasn’t related to Draco and that maybe she was over thinking like she always did hoped that her depression wasn’t returning. She didn’t want to be like this, but the thought-loop swept her up and it took a while for her to be more like herself. 

Hermione was getting ready for the fundraiser ball with Ginny who had helped choose her dress and robes. Hermione had a floor length royal blue strapless dress which she charmed to shimmer like stars when it caught the light. The matching robes she wore had silver thread and slits in the fabric for her arms. Ginny had also helped with Hermione’s hair and makeup. Her hair was pinned back and the curls smoothed out so it cascades down her back to show off the dangly silver star earrings Ginny insisted Hermione purchase.

“Yes!” Ginny exclaimed, “You look amazing! What do you think of me?” Ginny was in a seafoam green spaghetti strap dress accompanied by a purple capelet-style robe with gold embellishments. 

“You look wonderful, Ginny! Green and purple really suit you!”

“Are you doing okay, Hermione? I’ve been meaning to ask, but you seem a bit down the last few weeks.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine; everything has gone very smoothly since Draco’s come on to help us.”

“And he hasn’t been an utter a prick to you? You know I’m here if you ever need to talk or to just be around someone.” Ginny offered.

“Draco’s been great! He’s the total opposite to how he was in school. You’ll see what I mean tonight. He actually offered the Malfoy country house after I mentioned we were having difficulty finding a place. He’d only just accepted a position as potioneer. I was so shocked! He even offered to host the event tonight. He said it would get more interest from the wider wizarding community.” 

“Sounds like he’s doing it for his own image.” 

“That may be so, but I don’t think so. You should see him with Teddy.” Hermione smiled softly, “Anyway, even if he is doing it for his own self-interest, he’s been such a great help. And-” Hermione blushed; “he’s not bad to look at!” the women broke out in laughter. 

“Yeah, I’d agree, but we’re technically related. Plus, I prefer brown hair.” Ginny smirked, “But you have been quiet lately, did something happen?” 

“I - uh – nothing bad. During our tour of his country home, I tripped and, “Hermione flushed deeper and averted her eyes, “he caught me.” Ginny stifled a laugh.

“That’s the closest you’ve been to a guy for a while. Is he fit?” the redhead teased. 

Hermione nodded, “and he smells good!” 

“Are you gonna hook up with him tonight?” 

“Of course not it would be utterly inappropriate!” 

“Oh well, no reason you can’t fantasize and stare at his arse occasionally.”

“Ginny!” Hermione laughed and gently wacked her friend across the arm, Ginny didn’t mind, she seemed to have distracted Hermione for a little bit. 

“I’ll go see how Harry and Ron are getting on with their robes; wizard god knows how hopeless they are with fancy robes.” 

“Since I’m all set I’ll see you later, I’m going to apparate to the Home now.”


	7. Chapter 6

Draco knew the moment Hermione had apparated onto the grounds; it was by instinct, but he had also placed a charm to let him know when her magical signature penetrated the wards. Draco exited the ballroom where he was placing some final touches to “accidentally” bump into Hermione again. He had to stay hidden from her until the right moment.

They had agreed to meet in the ballroom to go over the schedule and for Hermione to see the finalised decorations and to make any last minute changes she might want. However, since she had arrived early from their arranged meeting time, Hermione decided to stop by the library to have a closer look at it. Once Draco had realised where she was going he smirked to himself: _Once a bookworm, always a bookworm_ he thought to himself, trying not to laugh. _Lucky for me, this makes it easier for me to get close to her without her realising._ Draco’s eyes were pitch-black; there was no trace of white to his eyeballs. He looked dangerous, he knew this, that’s why he didn’t want her to see him before he got a chance to get close to her again and he returned to looking human. Being this close to her after two weeks made him feel excited and worried about what might happen if he didn’t keep in control of himself. He wouldn’t be able to hurt her physically, but he didn’t want to frighten her away. Once Draco was certain Hermione thought of him romantically and they had a better friendship, then he would tell her. 

Hermione went behind some bookcases, Draco followed. Hermione was looking at book titles completely unaware she was being watched and not paying attention. Draco saw a step ladder up ahead and smiled predatorily. He took his wand out and silently moved it so it was in front of Hermione’s path. Hermione didn’t see the step ladder so she tripped over it head first. Draco caught her from behind so she couldn't see him; one arm around her waist, the other over her chest in line with her shoulders. His face was almost buried in the top of her head. He breathed in deeply to make sure the creature side of him was overtaken with her presence. Draco saw his nails change and felt more room in his mouth as his canines receded to their regular size. With her head against his chest he could smell her lilac shampoo. He hoped she didn't feel how fast his heart was beating. Draco took another deep breath, just to make sure. 

“You should watch where you're walking,” Draco said with a slight hint of amusement.

“Draco!” Hermione said, “you could probably let me go now,” Draco let go of her once she was on two feet, “thanks for catching me... again.” 

“It's my pleasure. You look beautiful,” Draco reached out to touch some of the hair that had fallen around her shoulder. Hermione blushed. 

“You look pretty good yourself, but you're always dressed in a suit so this is not much different.”

“What were you looking for in here? We were supposed to meet in the ballroom.” 

“Oh, just getting familiar with the sections for when we catalogue the library." 

Draco smiled warmly; Hermione hadn’t seen him smile like this before it made her smile back at him.

“Are your eyes darker?” Hermione asked, Draco's smile faltered a fraction. 

“Do you stare into my eyes often enough to know the exact shade?” He teased, stepping a little closer, his right hand came up and gently held her chin.

“Draco, don’t joke around. This isn’t appropriate.” Hermione said as she stepped away from him, forgetting about the step ladder behind her, and fell. Again. Draco caught her one arm around her waist, the other took her arm. They looked like they were mid-dip during a waltz.

“Are you falling for me, Granger?” Draco teased again, happy that he had an excuse to keep being near her. Hermione blanched in embarrassed indignation.

“Absolutely not!” Hermione shoved at Draco to stand up straight and she paced away a few feet so she could think clearly without his tantalising smell around her.

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks!”

“Do not quote muggle literature to me, Draco Malfoy!”

“Whoever said Shakespeare was a muggle?” Draco challenged, Hermione eyed him.

“He isn’t mentioned anywhere in any of the history books as being a notable wizard.” Hermione said bossily, Draco laughed, 

“Okay, so he isn’t a wizard. Excuse me for reading muggle plays to learn about muggles.” Hermione softened at his confession and rewarded Draco with a smile. His heart leapt at knowing he made her smile. 

“Shall we continue with the books, or would you like to go over the schedule and see what we've set up in the ballroom?” Draco offered. 

“Schedule and ballroom, I don't want to run out of time.” Hermione started for the door to go to the ballroom, Draco followed her. “Oh, and I hope you’re free tomorrow, because I want to start cataloguing that library as soon as I can! You’re a hard person to meet up with, so I’m not giving you a choice.” 

“Fair enough,” Draco chuckled, “I was planning on nursing a hangover tomorrow, but lucky for you, I can catalogue with a hangover. So, we are to meet the guests at the entryway from six until the last person scheduled to arrive at seven-thirty. There will be a house elf around to give us drinks or nibbles when we need them. Each guest has been given a scheduled time to apparate, so hopefully there are no incidents.”

“Such a long time to stand around and greet people,” Hermione mused,

“I know, and it’s utterly necessary. It’s rude for the hosts not to greet their guests. I’ve done it before, and it is boring, but only way to properly meet everyone you’ve invited.  Seven-thirty until eight you have some time to mingle or do whatever you like. At eight there will be speeches; first myself greeting again and thanking everyone for coming and introducing you to talk about the orphanage, then I’ve spoken to Potter about giving a speech saying how he thinks this is a wonderful opportunity or whatever, and how he will gladly contribute and how he expects everyone present to donate in the name of peace. I owled him to send me the speech he prepared so I could make sure it will guilt many of the old families to contribute.” 

“I hope his public speaking skills have improved, we really need the support. I’m surprised you’ve been talking.” 

“He was at the opening of the restaurant. We’ve become less antagonistic since then.” Draco shrugged off the topic, “After the speeches you’re free to mingle at your pleasure, but it would be better if we mingled together.” Draco offered. It wasn’t exactly true, but he wanted to spend more time with her this evening.  

“Ok, sounds like a pla--” Hermione stopped mid-sentence as Draco opened the door to the ballroom. 

When they had toured, the ballroom was a large open and airy space, it had sheets over some furniture which was stored in there, but now it was so transformed it sparkled. It was golden, with thousands of candles lighting the room. There were tall tables placed on one end, and a space on the other where instruments were waiting to be charmed to play music with space enough for dancing and the speeches. Garlands skirted the rooms with other touches of nature; it felt like a Christmas celebration without a Christmas tree. The windows on the far side, near the tables, opened out to the patio where fireflies flew around the forest. Hermione’s eyes misted over as she took in the decorations and the room.

“Oh, Draco, this is beautiful! I wouldn’t change a thing!” She turned to look at him; he smiled back as she beamed up at him. Draco felt a firm tug on his heart that his potential mate was so happy because of something he had done. He did not want this feeling to end.


	8. Chapter 7

Hermione tried to stifle a yawn after greeting a wealthy couple. Draco nudged her with his elbow to wake her up a bit.

“I know this is boring, but you cannot yawn when greeting guests. Wiggle your toes to stay alerted, also, a trick I thought of when I was younger is to imagine these people roaring drunk in a few hours making fools of themselves. For example, the couple we just spoke to; I imagine him stripping and his wife trying and failing to sing along with the music. Or you could focus on what you’ll be doing when you don’t have to stand here greeting people.”

“How many times have you had to do this? I understand it’s importance, but..” Her trailed off as some more people came up for them to greet before they entered the ballroom. Hermione had come up with a generic greeting: Hello, how are you/ so good to have you with us this evening/ you look marvellous/I love your dress/those robes suit you. It was very monotonous. 

“It does get tiresome, but there’s no one I’d rather be stuck here with than you.” Draco said honestly. 

“I would have to agree,” Hermione replied quietly. 

“Would you like Blinky to bring you a drink?” 

“Not just yet. But after this I'd like something stronger than a glass of wine.” 

“You've got it, Madame Director.” 

“If you call me that again I'll direct you where to go!” Hermione rebuffed quietly as another couple came up to them. 

“Okay, it's seven-forty. That was the last of the invited guests,” Draco said glancing at the guest list that had been charmed to cross off the guest list as they arrived. “Let's have a shot to catch up to the guests.” Draco said as he summoned two shot glasses filled with a beige liquid topped with fresh cream.

“Cheers!” They clinked the glasses and both took a shot. “What was that anyway?” 

“Something they serve at the muggle bar; it’s called a blowjob.” Draco said matter-of-factly. 

“What?” Hermione nearly screeched before falling into a fit of giggles, “Draco Malfoy  just gave me a blowjob!” Hermione teased and continued giggling while Draco grinned sheepishly. 

“Excuse me, Draco; I need to use the restroom. I’ll meet back up with you before the speeches.” Hermione waved as she headed off for the toilets. Draco stood there for a moment lost in his thoughts. 

_I had no idea we would get along so well. She’s really great. I hope she’s interested in me._  

“Well, well, Draco Malfoy flirting with the Gryffindor bookworm. I’m shocked!” Pansy drawled as she came up to Draco having seen their exchange.

“Pansy, don’t you have somewhere else to be? I see there are some single people over by the bar.” 

“But why be there when I can be here to annoy you. So, you fancy Granger, huh?” 

“About as much as you fancy Theo and Blaise. How is your harem going anyway?” Draco teased, Pansy laughed at Draco remark. 

“They’re here tonight so I’m sure you can ask them. Thinking about have a poly relationship with Granger and the others of the Golden Trio?” Pansy laughed again, Draco figures she must be about two or three drinks in at this point to be laughing to openly. Pansy seemed to sober up before continuing, “I’ll be honest, it was difficult getting over the jealousy, but it’s all about communication. At least they have each other when I have to take long business trips. They’re devils but I love them.” 

“Polygamy isn’t my style Pans.” Draco sighed, “Enough about that, will you be contributing to the orphanage?” 

“Straight to business then, the Gryffindor must be rubbing off on you. Of course we’re going to contribute. We’d look pretty shitty if we didn’t since it’s our parents fault in the first place. But we’ll probably be anonymous, you know, the usual kind of thing. Whiskey, Draco, or would you like another blowjob?” Pansy teased again, Draco rolled his eyes at his friend, “It was a risky move, and you must be desperate to get into the boyfriend zone.”

“I said enough about that Pansy, ease up” 

“Draco, my dear nephew, is this lovely woman one of your friends? Please introduce us,” Andromeda interrupted. 

“Aunty, this is one of my good friends, Pansy Parkinson. Pansy, this is my aunt, Andromeda Tonks. She will be managing the orphanage.” 

“A pleasure to meet you, Mrs Tonks, I can see the similarities between you and Mrs Malfoy.” 

“You’re too kind Miss Parkinson, and the pleasure is all mine. I would love to hear stories of my nephew when he was younger, I’m sure you must have many if he’s anything like how Lucius was. My, the stories Cissy told me! I’ll have to tell you sometime, Draco. Scandalous!” Andromeda joked 

“Oh! Mrs Tonks -” Pansy started, 

“Please, call my Andy,”

“Andy, there was one time in third year when Granger punched Malfoy in the face! She broke his nose and everything, he was so angry. We all thought it was hilarious!” 

“Draco!” Andromeda exclaimed with incredulity 

“Pansy!! Aunty, don’t listen to Pansy, she’s had a bit to drink; totally untrustworthy.” Draco said with embarrassment.

“He used to pick on her something terrible. He definitely had it coming.” Pansy laughed, “It’s so funny now that I think about it after seeing you flirt with her before. How long have you liked her Malfoy? Maybe since she called you a toad in first year.” Pansy laughed as she skipped off out of Draco’s range to find her paramours Theo and Blaise.

Andromeda soberly looked at Draco, from her look he knew that she knew. He averted his gaze flushed with embarrassment and anger at Pansy’s indiscretion. 

“Draco,” Andromeda’s voice had the same piteous quality his mothers had earlier that day and he hated it. 

“Andromeda, please. Not tonight.” 

“Hermione doesn’t know, does she?” 

“No and you are not to tell her. She doesn’t need to know. Not yet. I can’t -” Draco sighed in frustration, “can we just focus on tonight?” Andromeda nodded.

Draco saw his mother approaching from behind Andromeda; he could tell she looked hesitant, even though she exuded confidence to everyone else.  Draco put his arm out to turn Andromeda around and guide her to his mother. 

“Draco, what -?” Andromeda started, 

“Aunty, here’s mother. I hope you too can reconcile. Aunty, please do not tell her who it is. Otherwise, talk to your heart's content.” Draco walked away to get another drink before they could say anything else to him. Pity is not what he wants from anyone.

Draco found a dark nook where he could be alone for a moment to collect himself. At the vantage point he was able to keep an eye on the event. He saw Hermione approach Potter, Ginny and Weasley. At Pansy’s reminder that Hermione could be in love with either of them made him jealous. As he watched, he saw Potter and Ginny so close and obviously in-love that it settled him a little. Hermione and Weasley’s body language seemed awkward. Draco hadn’t thought to ask about her relationship with Weasley, he knew they had something going on between them during Hogwarts, but he had completely forgotten about it. Before the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach could take hold, Susan Bones walked up and took Weasley’s hand. Draco immediately relaxed, but he saw Hermione take her leave of the group and head towards the exit to the patio outside. He quickly followed. 

Hermione let out a deep sigh. 

“Truly a shame for someone so lovely to let out such a melancholy sigh, is everything all right?” 

“Yeah, everything fine. I think that shot you gave me is hitting me pretty hard. I’ve never been good with alcohol.” 

“Have you eaten anything to absorb the alcohol, maybe a sobering potion?” Draco offered with concern. 

“Draco, you ca- forget it. You’ve already got what you wanted, please stop pretending.” Hermione said voice full of irritation 

“Hermione, what are you talking about? What’s brought this on? We’ve been getting along really well.” 

“If you’re only being kind to get more money out of the orphanage or for your public image then just drop the act. I wouldn’t be able to take it if you just turned around one day and sneered at me for thinking we were friends. I would rather you told the truth. Now. I don’t like being lied to.” 

Draco looked at Hermione quizzically. He wasn’t putting on an act. He felt her frustration and hurt and it clawed inside his chest.

“I don’t understand.” He said truthfully. Something in his face made Hermione realise that was the truth.

“I spoke to Harry. He asked how we were getting on working so closely and he’s surprised we hadn’t had any fights. He said you were still a prick and only interested in yourself and while you actually reconciled with him he knew it wasn’t entirely heartfelt. He told me how surprised he was at you being so helpful and magnanimous.” Hermione glared at him, a fire burning behind her eyes. 

“I’ve changed. I don’t want to spoil this evening, but the only thing I’ve gained personally from this is getting to know you better. I mean, I also get to have a relationship with my aunt and cousin, so that’s not entirely a bad thing.” 

Hermione huffed in response, relaxing slightly, but not entirely. 

“There’s probably nothing I can say that will convince you, but I will prove it to you. Legally, I can’t give you a grand pronouncement by gifting this property to you or the orphanage, it has to be sold at the value of the grounds at least, and, I can’t work for you as a potions master for free due to labour laws. In any case, I doubt you’d appreciate anything that breaks the law. But I’ll show you somehow and earn your trust. Okay?” 

Draco’s sudden impassioned speech left Hermione speechless, so she nodded silently hoping for a distraction. 

“It’s time for the speeches, Master Draco.” a house elf had informed them. 

“After the speeches, could I have a dance with you?”

“Yes,” Hermione replied.


	9. Chapter 8

The speeches were largely uneventful. Draco was his usual charming self, Hermione stuck to her memorized script in a matter-of-fact tone and Harry only stumbled over his script a few times before stating that he will be making a very substantial donation for the initial setup of the orphanage and a donation every year. Andromeda had asked not to be a part of the speeches, but she was in the front row of the crowd beaming up at them all. After Draco had closed the speeches for the evening and promoted drinking, dancing and mingling he joined Hermione and Harry off to the side to congratulate them on their speeches. 

“Not bad Potter, you were almost coherent for that speech,” Draco teased Harry, his tone light and significantly non-threatening. Hermione smirked and rolled her eyes and Harry stiffened a little, ready to respond. Hermione put a friendly hand on Harry’s shoulder. 

“Harry, you did so well!” Hermione complimented, “That speech was fantastic.” 

Harry blushed a little; praise from Hermione meant a lot. “Thanks, Hermione,” Harry said and gave her a quick hug, “This is a good cause and I know the kids will be well looked after with you involved. We’ll have a dance later?” Harry asked and walked off to find Ginny while Hermione nodded. 

During the exchange Draco looked ruffled when Harry had hugged her. Unfortunately for the very private Draco, someone noticed his reaction and glided up to him. 

“Hermione,” Fleur greeted with a warm smile, “Monsieur Malfoy,” Fleur regarded him in a much cooler tone. 

“Fleur, I’m so glad you and Bill could make it tonight. I know I said it earlier, but I’m so glad you two are going to be involved. Draco, I believe you remember Fleur from the Tri-wizard Tournament? She’s a quarter Veela, and her husband, Bill Weasley has some lycanthropy symptoms due to a severe scratch. They have very kindly agreed to be a part of the orphanage; Fleur as a Healer and Bill as a counsellor and mentor.” 

“Oui, that’s correct. However, Hermione, we were wondering if you wanted us to live here or floo in everyday? Floo may get difficult as we have recently discovered I am pregnant, but we have not announced it yet, so please keep it to yourself for now.”

“Fleur, toutes nos félicitations! I’ll have to talk it over with Draco and Andromeda, but I am sure we could have you stay here, but what about new parenthood leave? I don’t know how soon we are having families and children move in, but we hope soon.” Hermione’s mouth was motoring a mile a minute. Draco laid a hand on her forearm.

“There’s time, Hermione.” He said to soothe her 

“Yes, plenty of time. We will enjoy this evening first. I just wanted to let you know. I think Ginny was looking for you, something about celebratory drinks.” Fleur said and guided Hermione away. Once Hermione was gone she rounded back to Draco. 

“Malfoy, it is a French name, is it not?” Fleur asked politely, 

“Yes,” Draco replied coolly, 

“ ** _Parlez-vous français?_** ” She asked with a raised eyebrow, 

“Yes,” Draco replied seethed in English, 

“ ** _I saw you when Hermione hugged Harry. You are a Veela. She is your soulmate. Does she know?_** _”_ Fleur fired off rapidly in French, Draco was struck.  

“ ** _Non_** _,_ ” Draco replied with gritted teeth, angry that someone not related to him had figured it out, “ ** _Do not tell her._** ” He said darkly in French, “ ** _It must be true what they said about how much more observant pregnant Veela women are._** ”  

“ ** _It is true, I see the connection between you two, and unless you want everyone in this room to know you are a Veela, you need to calm down. Your irises are starting to change. You need to tell her before you do any harm to yourself or anyone._** ”  

“ ** _I will tell her whenever I like!_** ” Draco hissed, 

“ ** _At least become closer to her before something terrible happens. You can talk to me about it if you would like. Go dance with her right now before you sprout feathers._** ” Fleur pushed him slightly toward to direction she sent Hermione. Draco stopped and took a few calming breaths then continued on to look for Hermione. 

Hermione was talking with Ginny, Harry and Bill about the plans for the orphanage and how she had hoped it would help children with extra-magical abilities, such as Lycanthropy, metamorphism or Veela, to become more accepted in the wizarding community. Draco summoned two glasses of champagne. 

“Madam Director,” Draco said, nudging Hermione’s shoulder, to hand her a glass, “I’ve heard good things. I think a lot of the older families will be contributing. Congratulations.” He tipped his glass to hers,

“Draco, honestly, we’ve only been able to come this far so quickly because of your input. Your contributions have been invaluable.” She tipped her glass to him and they both drank. 

“It’s pretty incredible how far you’ve been willing to help, Malfoy.” Harry commented flatly. 

“Well, here’s to change!” Ginny said hoping to steer the conversation away from any potential fights between Harry and Draco. 

“Hermione, shall we have that dance?” Draco asked ignoring Harry, 

“I’d love to.” Hermione responded, Draco took her hand and placed in the crook of his elbow, vanishing their empty glasses on the way to the dance floor. 

As they danced Hermione couldn’t help and flush at how close they were. She couldn’t get enough of his cologne, his hand felt so warm in her hand and the one on her back felt comforting. She felt secure. She didn’t speak for a little while. 

“You know, Draco, what is your cologne, you smell so nice.” Hermione asked with embarrassment. 

“I don’t actually wear any, but I will absolutely take any compliment from you. Thank you.” Draco was glad Hermione wasn’t looking at his face as he felt a rush from her compliment, his eyes shone with happiness. He was glad Fleur had prompted him to dance with her; the physical contact from her had helped him calm down. Draco tried to ignore how riled up he had become and how potentially dangerous it was, he really did not want it to ruin this evening. 

“I already told you how absolutely stunning you look tonight; I can almost see how regretful Weasley is for letting you go.” Draco said sounding smug 

“Draco,” Hermione warned, “You don’t know anything about it.”

“You’re right, I apologise.” 

They went back to silence now; it felt slightly awkward, 

“Will it be alright for Veela to be around the orphanage? I’ve read some unsettling things about them,” Draco asked with caution, he felt safe asking about her opinion now that he knew she was already acquainted with someone with Veela heritage. 

“Draco, please do not tell me you are prejudice against this.” She sighed with frustration, “Now that Fleur is mated, and for life, I might tell you, she isn’t a threat to attract any men. She will only be dangerous if something happens to her mate or her children. If you have a problem with that then I will make working with you very difficult.” Hermione threatened. Draco thought she was endearing, but he felt conflicted about letting her think he was prejudiced against Veela in general, there was only one Veela he hated; himself. 

“Hermione,” He said softly, full of warmth, “Relax, I was just asking out of curiosity. It would be hypocritical of me to think like that. I was actually wondering if Fleur has any brothers.” 

“Brothers? I don’t think so. Why?” 

“Well, there isn’t really any information on male Veela; female Veela seem to be, I wouldn’t say common, but better documented.” Hermione looked thoughtful, like she was digging through the knowledge she had stored in her brain, “Would you like to help me research it? A lot of the books from the main Malfoy property that were about magical creatures were sent here for safekeeping.” 

Draco could tell his plan had worked, Hermione enjoyed researching and finding information, and it would be much easier for him to come out to her if they were already on that topic.

“We can look for those books tomorrow while we’re cataloguing! I wonder if Fleur knows of any, perhaps I’ll ask her,” Hermione tried to pull away, but Draco held her tighter, 

“Hermione,” He whispered in her ear, Draco smirked at her shiver, “There’s plenty of time. Let’s enjoy tonight.”


	10. Chapter 9

 *tap*tap*tap* 

Draco groaned. 

*tap*tap*tap-tap*tap* 

_Nooo!_ Draco thought sluggishly, rolling over in his double sized bed, he registered the door opening but didn’t react. His bed was so comfortable. Then he smelled coffee. 

“Draco,” a woman’s voice called, it sounded familiar and although he knew he should be concerned about a woman being in his bedroom, but this one made him feel relaxed and peaceful. He almost completely forgot about his hangover. “I bought you some coffee. One of your house elves said you prefer to drink coffee without sugar and a splash of almond milk.” 

Draco groaned in response. 

“I made it myself, and I would be very offended if you didn’t drink it,” There was a pause, she waited a moment for what she said sink in, “Alright, well, I’ll just go back downstairs, drink this coffee all to myself, and maybe burn the library down, who knows?” 

“Wait! Don’t even think about it! Hermione? What are - ?” Draco sat up from his bed, shirtless and hair ruffled and standing up in odd places. Hermione giggled. 

“If only I had a camera; with hair like that you could rival Harry, but I guess you already do.” Hermione commented, Draco pouted a little, “Now you are finally awake, Mr Malfoy, would you like your specially brewed coffee?” 

“Yes, please,” 

“My, what manners, I shall have to thank your mother for them, but seeing as it is ten o’clock, she may not be all that impressed.” Hermione handed him his coffee and she took a sip of her own trying not to focus on his bare chest. 

“It’s only ten? Merlin, Hermione, I went to bed at 5am!” 

“Plenty of time. Maybe you’ve missed your hangover and are still drunk?” 

“Maybe,” Draco took a mouthful of coffee, “Mmm, this is good. Do you know what the house elves are making for breakfast?” 

“I’m getting bacon and eggs, they’re making you fried tofu with tomato and avocado on a bagel. It’ll be ready soon, so get dressed and I’ll meet you in the kitchen,” Hermione closed the door behind her. It was then that Draco realised he was in his underwear and almost passed out when blood rushed to his face in embarrassment, and to his groin at the thought of his mate being near when he was almost naked. To distract himself, he gulped down the remainder of the hot coffee and jumped out of his bed, summoned the clothes he was going to wear today and headed across the hall to the bathroom to make himself presentable. 

Hermione had almost finished eating by the time Draco had finished showering and getting dressed. He noticed that Hermione was wearing dress with a pineapple pattern with a blue cardigan and flats. She looked so refreshed and he couldn’t help but think how lucky he was. In a set up like this; having breakfast together after being woken up with a coffee made by her, he thought life could get so much better than what it was. He busied himself making another coffee before he sat down next to her where his breakfast sat waiting. 

“There’s a bit missing from this piece of avocado,” Draco noticed, Hermione had the decency to look guilty when he raised his eyebrow at her. 

“Would you believe I was checking for poison?” Hermione asked, Draco smirked but shook his head, “It looked good, so I tried a piece. No big deal.” 

“No big deal, she says. No problems with that, mon chéri, but anyone would think we’re dating.” Draco countered, waiting for her to get flustered, but she only grinned wider. 

“Well, after last night I would hope so, love.” Hermione leaned over to kiss Draco’s cheek, and when she did Draco froze on the spot with shock. Hermione picked up her empty plate and washed it, “I’ll meet you in the library,” Hermione’s voice almost sang as she exited the room. 

_What happened last night? I don’t remember anything like that. What was the last thing? I remember dancing and taking shots with Blaise and Theo then… more dancing? Did I black out? What happened? Oh no oh no. Shit shit shit!_  

Draco shovelled down his breakfast, trying not to vomit at the sudden influx of food, and ran after Hermione to the Library. 

“What are you talking about? What happened last night?” 

“Draco, sweetheart, you look pale,” Hermione commented and put her hand to his forehead, 

“Hermione, I mean it, I can’t remember anything - I think I was drugged!” Draco said full of worry. Hermione rolled her eyes, 

“Calm down, Draco, it was a joke. I was joking. Pansy dared me to do it; she said it would be funny. Nothing happened. I stayed here last night, alone, in one of the spare rooms. I went to bed at 2am, while you stayed up with your friends. The last I saw you, you and the guys were playing drunken Quidditch in the ballroom after everyone left.” 

“Sounds like something Pansy would do,” Draco said, returning to his normal self, “That’s meddlesome witch!” he muttered to himself. 

“Where shall we start on the left or right of the room? Or would you like to start finding the stuff on male Veela?” 

“Uhh, you can choose. I need another coffee, you want one?” Draco asked, still reeling. 

“If there’s orange juice, I’ll have that. If you don’t, water is fine.” Hermione replied, Draco nodded as he exited; Hermione went to the row of bookshelves on the right-hand wall, a notebook and pencil in hand.   

Draco walked straight to his bedroom where he had some writing supplies. 

_Pansy, that was not funny! I almost had a heart attack. She came into a room to wake me up with a coffee. I WAS IN MY UNDERWEAR!! She kissed my cheek! You have no idea what almost happened! God damn you! I thought I was drugged. Don’t talk to me ever again!_

_Say ‘Hi’ to Theo and Blaise for me._

_Get fucked,_

_D.M._

“Blinky,” The house elf appeared, “Can you make sure Pansy Parkinson gets this note as soon as possible. Thank you.” After the elf disappeared Draco went to make coffee and find some juice. 

By the time he had arrived back to the library, coffee and orange juice in hand, he found Hermione halfway from the aisle, notebook floating by her left shoulder and pencil acting like a dict-a-quill as she recited book title, author and genre to it. The rows she had passed had a number and each shelf had a letter attached with a temporary sticking charm. 

“You seem to be getting on pretty quickly. What do you want me to do?” Draco asked as he passed her the glass of orange juice. 

“Okay, so, you might’ve noticed, the first shelf I labelled as ‘1’, which each shelf being a letter; ‘a, b, c, d, e, f’. Since this at the moment is to just catalogue what books you have we don’t really need to order them specifically, yet. First things first, find out what books you have, then take out the ones that would be too dangerous to be kept here, then reorder to a better system. Honestly, Draco, I found an Astronomy next to a Herbology book!” 

“Alright, and you’re writing down the book title, author, genre and bookshelf reference in that book?” Draco asked, taking a sip of coffee. Hermione nodded with a grin, “Do you want me to start on the next shelf so we don’t mess up the shelf numbers and leapfrog over each other?” 

“That’s the idea!” Hermione said brightly, “It’s so nice not to have to explain every detail for once.” 

“I was number two in school you know, you always only just got better grades than I did.” Draco explained.

“Really?” Hermione asked, 

“You didn’t know?”

 “I had no idea!” 

“That’s a little heartbreaking, if I’m perfectly honest.” 

“Well, there were other things to focus on at the time. Not to mention, I had my books memorised before I even got to school. Something about needing to prove myself and the anxiety that I will never be good enough to fit in.” 

“I’m sorry -” 

“Draco Malfoy, if you apologize to me again I’m going to punch you in the face.” Hermione interrupted. 

\---

**Meanwhile, at the Nott-Zabini-Parkinson Apartment**

Pansy was woken up by a raucous tapping on their bedroom window. Since she was closest to it, and the least hungover, she untangled herself from Theo’s arms, she grinned to herself when he rolled over to hug Blaise instead. Pansy quickly tiptoed to open the window to the familiar owl. 

“Are you fucking kidding me! Tap quietly you pesky beast!” She berated in a hushed whisper not wanting to wake up her loves. _What the fuck does Draco want so goddamn early!_ She thought to herself. 

She read the letter and had to stop herself from laughing out loud. 

_What a fucking Drama Queen._  

Pansy tossed the letter over her shoulder and returned to bed, draping her arm around Theo to rest on Blaise’s hip.


	11. Chapter 10

Hermione and Draco worked together sorting the library easily. Any time either found a book on magical creatures they sent it to one of the desks in the centre of the library to review later. When they completed the entirety of the perimeter of the ground floor of the library Draco called for a lunch break. During lunch they ate sandwiches while reading the magical creature textbooks and sharing information if they found it interesting. After lunch they left the remainder of the magical creature textbooks and continued to catalogue the books in the freestanding shelves of the ground floor. Soon enough, Hermione’s stomach grumbled again.

“Blast it!” Hermione exclaimed loathe to stop working again.

“Getting hungry again?”

“Yes, I guess I should get going.” Hermione nearly whined as they were almost finished all the shelves on the ground floor.

“Why don't you stay for dinner?”

“I don't want to impose,”

“It's not imposing if you're invited.” Draco drawled

“Well, it's not like I have any plans,” Hermione deliberated,

“And maybe you could stay the night again?” Draco asked brightly,

“I can't tonight, Draco,” Hermione laughed, Draco pouted, “I have to feed my cat and spend some time with him. He can get irate if I don't give him enough attention.”

Draco smirked, “Merlin, I hope that's a euphemism.”

“It isn't.” Hermione responded sharply. Draco winked at her; she rolled her eyes, “well, I'll be coming back here tomorrow anyway to continue cataloguing.”

“You don't have to be at the ministry?”

“I quit. I didn’t feel like I could do any good there, and I decided I needed to focus all my energy on the orphanage while it’s being set up.”

“If you would like, I can help you finish cataloguing,”

“Don't _you_ have work?”

“It should be fine. I prefer to work by correspondence nowadays so I'll have all the correspondences forwarded to arrive here.”

“It wouldn't be too much of a bother?”

“Nonsense, if I weren't here to help, you would have hardly finished the outside edge by now. Besides, I like spending time with you.” 

Hermione was taken aback by Draco’s blunt admission. She was surprised that she liked him, even more so that he liked her. He had even said as much with all the compliments he had given her in the last 24 hours. 

“Okay, I’ll have dinner here, but I can’t stay too late,”

“Because your _cat_ needs attention, right?”

“Right.” Hermione replied arching an eyebrow,

“Would you like to have what I’ll be eating, or do you need to consume meat at every meal to survive?” Draco asked with a smug grin on his face, intentionally poking Hermione’s buttons.

“You know, I think I’ll just have pizza at home, by myself, maybe watch a movie, and have some beer. I won’t have to deal with smart-arses. Sounds lovely.” Hermione said walking off to collect her pocket-dimension beaded handbag which stored anything she could ever need if she had to go on the run again.

“Sounds fun. Can I come too? You said you’d show me a movie, remember?” Draco asked innocently, Hermione took a moment to consider.

“Only if you promise not to be judgemental: my apartment could fit in your kitchen.” 

Draco could only grin in response. The truth was that both of them enjoyed the others company and neither wanted to leave the others presence just yet. Hermione was surprised at how comfortable she felt being so casual with Draco and at how much she liked him as a person. They had spent almost an entire day in each other’s company, and she had not once wanted to hex him. She had never seen Draco look more comfortable or happy as he looked now. When she had noticed him at Hogwarts he looked arrogant, she could tell now that that was just a front to continue the appearance that that is how Malfoy’s were and their right to be better than everyone else. But the man before her had hardly stopped smiling around her; he had even joked with her a few times. She really enjoyed being around the person Draco was now.  Hermione wondered briefly if blood prejudices hadn’t existed, maybe Draco and her would’ve been friends sooner. 

Hermione side-along apparated Draco to a spot near her apartment since it wasn’t connected to the Floo. She lived in a muggle area and didn’t want constant magical energy affecting electrical appliances so using magic and apparating in her apartment weren’t ideal. As soon as she has caught her equilibrium she quickly let go of Draco, and blushed in embarrassment as she led him to her small but neat home. 

“This is a no-shoes house, Draco. You’ll have to remove your shoes.” She said as she removed her own shoes.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Why can’t I wear my shoes? Do you know how expensive they are?”

“If you feel uncomfortable without footwear on, Mister Malfoy, I would be more than happy to conjure a pair of house slippers for you? I grew up in a house where you had to take your shoes off, it’s habit now, besides, do you have any idea what kind of bacteria could be on your shoes tracking all around my floors even with cleaning spells! You’re a guest in my home, so please remove your shoes. Here.” Hermione explained and finished by conjuring some green velvet slippers for Draco to wear, while she remained in her bare feet enjoying the feel of her clean lush carpet.   

Draco watched Hermione walk to her fridge as he started removing his boots. He quickly surveyed the living space. Ahead was the kitchen and to the left, which had a joining dining space with small pine square table butted up against the window and three matching chairs painted white. On Draco’s right was a light blue two person couch and armchair facing a television set. Further along there was a short hallway with two doors; a bathroom and bedroom Draco assumed. 

“We're in luck, there's some beer left over from our last games night!” Hermione said as she walked back over to Draco to hand him a beer, “Also, house rules, this place is mostly magic free so I can use muggle appliances like the teevee, telephone and computer. I try to use only minimal magic here because we're in a muggle area and magical energy interferes with electronics.” she sounded defiant and ready for a snide comment by Draco. Draco, however, just nodded. 

“I'd like to get to know muggle culture better. There’s a lot I don't know. Like, what's this thing?” Draco pointed to the large rectangle box under the television set. 

“That's the VCR and DVD player. You can record movies and teevee shows on video tapes so you can re-watch them, and DVDs are becoming more popular to watch movies on.” Hermione explained, Draco nodded, but still didn't quite get it. 

“Didn't you say you had a cat that needed taking care of?” Draco smirked, changing the conversation to something he was comfortable with. 

“Crooks is probably asleep on the bed. Make yourself comfortable while I get him. There are takeout menus in the fourth drawer in the kitchen, so help yourself to find what you’d like to eat.” Hermione said as she made her way to her bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter Draco and Hermione watching a movie, so if you'd like to watch that in preparation so its fresh in your minds for the next chapter they'll be watching '10 Things I Hate About You'. They discuss the action in the movie quite a bit, as you'd expect, so its dialogue heavy, too.


	12. Chapter 11

An hour later Crookshanks was sitting on the arm chair staring at Draco who was sitting nervously on the couch avoiding Crookshanks eye contact. Hermione was at the door getting their pizza from the delivery person. Hermione had mentioned that Crooks was at least half Kneazle but she couldn’t be sure because she had adopted him. Draco could tell this cat was intelligent, the way the orange furball stared at him like it could tell Draco wasn’t entirely human. Draco felt a bit of sweat run down his spine at the intimidation he felt from this creature.

_Veelas are bird creatures; I hope this cat doesn’t bite me. Should I say I’m allergic to cats or that I have a phobia so she puts it into another room? No, don’t be an idiot. Play it cool. Its fine, it won’t do anything. You’re still bigger than it is._  

“I was thinking that since you’re a fan of Shakespeare we’ll watch a film adaptation of one of his plays.”                                                                                                                                                          

“Okay” Draco responded, “But first, what is a movie?”

“Are you being serious? Do you have no knowledge about modern technologies?” 

“If you thought about it for a second and think about my upbringing, I don't think it's that hard to imagine that I don't know anything. And I do not usually admit when I lack knowledge. Just explain it to me and then we'll do a movie with pizza and I'll figure out whatever else I don't understand by practical demonstration.” 

Hermione nodded, “you're right, it shouldn't shock me. I promise not to judge whatever question you have about muggle stuff. So,” Hermione re-settled herself to face Draco on the couch and explained in her most know-it-all voice, “A movie is a series of still photographs that are shown in sequence at about 25 pictures or frames a minute so they appear to be moving. At least that is what the first movies were, the technology has changed a bit since then so they also include colour and sound.” 

“It's like a wizard photograph with sound then?” 

“Sort of. I think wizard photos are just a few seconds looped over and over right? Movies are much longer and they're stored on film or in a digital format.” 

“Digital?” 

“It's difficult to explain because I'm not a computer person, being away from muggles has kind of made sure of that… as best as I can say, digital information is a series of code and numbers that hold information. It doesn't exist physically, like; in the case of a DVD it's digitally stored on a disc but… I can't explain it correctly because I don't know.” Hermione look flustered so Draco dropped that line of questioning.

“Let's look at this movie then. What Shakespeare is it?” 

“I won't tell you! You'll have to guess. It's a modern retelling. I actually like this version better than the original.” Hermione showed him the cover. 

“ _‘10 Things I Hate About You’_? Doesn't sound like Shakespeare. Is that how muggles dress? I can see their navels!” 

“Well, I guess there's some people who dress like that, but mostly movies aren't totally realistic, even if they're set now they're exaggerated and not to be taken too seriously. Movies are supposed to be entertainment like reading a fictional book. I'm going to start the movie, if you have any questions or comments just blurt it out. I love discussing the action in the movie so just let it out whatever pops in your head.” 

Hermione started the movie. 

“Touchstone pictures?” 

“The production company, they basically made it.” 

“This music is catchy. Who are these names?”

“The actors playing the main roles,” 

“Oh the music changed, is that a main character, then?” 

“Yes.” Hermione had forgotten how many questions wizards had about movies. 

“Who are these people? Padua High School? Did that teacher just swear at her student? Shakespeare has a lot of plays mentioning Padua. Patrick Verona? Are you sure this is Shakespeare?” 

“I'm sure Draco.” 

“That guy with the open shirt, Cameron, reminds me of Potter; completely useless” Draco commented, Hermione chuckled in amusement. 

“Is this what muggle schools are like? Groups of people? Reminds me of Hogwarts.” 

“I don't know. Like I said, it's exaggerated.”

“I burn, I pine, I perish. That sounds familiar. Bianca? Hm,” Draco was mumbling to himself. Hermione decided that unless he asked a specific question she would mostly ignore him and eat her pizza.

“Eat some pizza Draco. I double checked it was vegan for you.” 

“That woman reminds me of you, but mean.”

“That asshole guy in blue reminds me of you in school.”

“But those two hate each other.”

“They do.”

“Do you hate me?”

“Not anymore.” Hermione smiled, “have some pizza,”

Draco picked up a slice, “this teacher reminds me of Snape, but much nicer even if he told her to get out of his class for being smart.” Draco finally took a bite of his supreme veg pizza. “It’s that female teacher again. She's writing porn? She kicked someone in the testicles? I’m glad you only punched me then, in that case, if it's acceptable for muggles to kick you in the balls. She's proud to be called a heinous bitch? What? Okay, so her name is Kat and that's a cat mug; that’s funny. Kat, Bianca, Patrick, Cameron?” Draco muttered. 

“Oh, look, that’s you and Blaise!” Hermione said cheekily pointing at Joey and his unnamed friend as they were plotting for Joey to mess with Bianca. 

“I'm offended. Is he plotting to sleep with Bianca for fun? That's disgusting. I would never play with someone's affections like that.” 

“It was a joke. You were an ass, but not as much as that guy.” 

“Exactly. So Cameron is going to teach Bianca to get close to her even if he doesn't know the subject. Did he say Kat is a shrew? Is this _Taming of the Shrew_?” 

“Yes, so just enjoy the movie and eat pizza. Soak in the muggle culture.”

“ _Taming of the Shrew_ isn't one of my favourites. It always felt rough and unpolished as if Shakespeare just wanted to finish the story quickly so there isn't proper development.”

“I agree that's why I like this movie better.”

Now that the mystery of which Shakespeare this was based on was over Draco had stopped muttering and was eating more, but his eyes were staring at the television taking in every detail of the movie. They had just seen the part of the movie where Joey offers Patrick twenty dollars to take Kat on a date, to which Patrick argues he would need more money if they went to see a movie and buy food at the concession stand. 

“Is this date?” Draco asked suddenly 

Hermione almost choked on her beer, “what!?” she eventually said, 

“They just said seeing a movie is a date,” Draco explained neutrally. 

“I - uh - well, no, because it wasn't agreed on before, I think it's more of an impromptu hang out.” 

Draco nodded in thought. Hermione was now on edge. 

“I'll be back in a second,” Hermione said as she moved toward the bedroom. 

_Relax. Relax. Breathe. He sounded like he wanted this to be a date. But he didn't look disappointed when I said it wasn't a date. Why am I so nervous? Nothing is going to happen. Even so I'll change into lingerie. You never know. Be prepared. Do I want this to be a date? We’re getting along really well and he is really attractive. Kissing him on the cheek this morning felt nice. Why did I actually go ahead with Pansy’s joke? This is too much! I need to calm down._  

Draco could tell Hermione had become nervous, he could sense it. He had hoped it was a date, but he could understand the reasoning behind why it wasn't a date. Draco decided that he would request another movie and for that to be a date. Draco hadn’t dated anyone since Hogwarts, after he found out he was a Veela he had no desire at all to date anyone. He was a bit out of practise, but he wanted to be with Hermione. 

_Hermione didn't seem against the idea of dating me. That's promising. She was stunned that I had brought it up, but I could tell she wasn't against it._ He thought taking a mouthful of beer. 

Hermione returned and sat on the couch rather stiffly, her cheeks blazing crimson.

“This Patrick guy would make a good Slytherin; he’s taking Joey’s money because he doesn’t have any stakes in this arrangement other than some extra money. But, I do think leading someone on isn’t okay. I hope in this version of _Taming  Of The Shrew_ he doesn’t take Kat away from her family and abuse her relentlessly for months so she starts ‘behaving’.” Draco said hoping conversation would loosen Hermione up a little. 

“Since this is only loosely based on Shrew I would suggest you think of this as an entirely different work of fiction.” Hermione stated, taking a sip of her beer. 

They had been sitting in silence watching the film, when Draco started talking again. Kat had just vomited after getting a concussion. 

“I wasn’t expecting Patrick to care so much about Kat or Cameron. He’s being really good about making sure Kat is cared for while she has a concussion while drunk. He’s really not a scumbag” Draco commented, Hermione nodded in response. 

“He’s probably the most well thought-out character in this movie. Some of the others really are so one-dimensional, like Joey; completely unrealistic and unrelatable. Patrick is a good person once you get to know him and ignore the rumours about him.” Hermione said. 

“I can relate to Patrick a lot more than Joey, even though you said I was like Joey -” 

“I meant when you were thirteen, Draco, you and I fought so many times when we were young. I think that changed after fourth year, actually.” Hermione commented. 

They watched the remainder of the film in silence. When the credits started rolling Draco expected Hermione to turn it off or something, but she just sat there grinning a little at the screen. Then the bloopers started rolling. 

“What-“ Draco started before giggling at the antics the actors got up to. When the bloopers had finished, Hermione ejected the disc. “What was that at the end? They were just mucking around?” Draco questioned. 

“It’s the blooper reel. Some movies have them in a separate menu on the DVD, but this movie has them in the end credits.” 

“So, what are bloopers?” 

“It’s when the actor messes up their line or forgets and the camera it still recording. Sometimes the production company includes them so people who watch can see how much fun they had behind the scenes.” 

“I didn’t know muggles were like that. I was always told they were aggressive and stupid.”

“The only difference between wizards and muggles is the ability to harness magical energy. That’s it. They’re capable of the same feelings and feats but they do it in a different way.” Hermione explained softly, “Would you like another beer?” Hermione asked standing up to retrieve the DVD.

“I was wondering,” Draco stood up and walked up behind Hermione, “could we watch another movie,” Hermione turned around, “and could that movie be our date?” Draco asked, his right hand reaching to tuck some loose hair behind Hermione’s ear.


	13. Chapter 12

“I was wondering,” Draco stood up and walked up behind Hermione, “could we watch another movie,” Hermione turned around, “and could that movie be our date?” Draco asked, his right hand reaching to tuck some loose hair behind Hermione’s ear.

“What?” Hermione asked indelicately, Draco cocked his head to the side slightly.

“I asked if we could watch another movie and if that movie could be counted as a date.” Draco clarified. Hermione stared at him a little shocked to hear him ask so bluntly.

“You want to go on a date with me? Why?” Hermione asked. Draco smirked then it widened to a grin and a slightly humourless laugh.

“Because I like you and because I’m attracted to you,” Draco responded.

“But wouldn’t you think a ro-romantic relationship between us would be inappropriate because we’re business partners?” Hermione stammered.

“No.” Draco returned flatly, Hermione was floored. She didn’t know what to do. A part of her was happy and she felt a strange pull in her chest to say yes and begin a romantic relationship with Draco Malfoy, but another larger part was frightened of exactly that.

“What makes you think I’m interested in you like that?” Hermione asked haughtily.

“Because I'm handsome and charming,” Draco replied cheekily, kissing her knuckles. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

“I bet you would like to think so,” She retorted, Draco laughed, still holding her hand as she hadn’t pulled away from him.

“I know so.” he replied, “How about this, then, we’ll continue working together, as friends, or business partners, if you’d prefer, but I want you to know that the offer will always stand. I better be getting home. I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Miss Granger,” Draco leaned forward his hand brushing some more hair away from her face as he kissed her on the cheek, “Let me know if you change your mind, tonight, next week, years from now, the offer stands.” He grinned as he left her standing there in shock as he collected him shoes from the front door and apparated to Malfoy Manor.

When Draco had arrived in his bedroom at Malfoy Manor the lights were off, the only light was from the moon streaming in through the window.

“Shit,” He muttered to himself as he walked to the balcony. The moon was in the third quarter; it would be a full next week. “Fuck!” Draco uttered more vehemently, after seeing the phase of the moon. He had forgotten all about it, but it was three weeks since Hermione had entered his office, asking for him to be her potioneer, and alerted his inner beast to his mate. They had first met after the night of the full moon, which hadn’t helped his bad temper that day. But since they had reciprocated a certain amount of affection for each other today, it meant that Draco was facing a potential situation next week.

Why did I have to kiss her cheek when I left! Draco thought, but at the time he didn’t think, it just happened. Hermione had kissed him good morning, and he had kissed her goodnight. As far as the Veela was concerned, that meant Hermione had initiated a romance, and Draco had accepted by reciprocation. On the full moon, if Draco wasn’t careful, he might end up flying to her during his transformation, which would be problematic for several reasons, one being muggles would see him, and secondly, Hermione would see him before she knew.

I’m going to have to tell her this week. Shit. I’m fucked. I’m a fucking idiot!

Draco walked back into his room and closed the balcony doors. “Lumos,” he said, igniting the candelabras around the room. The clock above the mantle said it was nine thirty-five. “Dippy,” Draco called out for a house-elf and when it appeared in front of him said, “I’ll be working at the Summer Mansion property tomorrow, which will be from now on known as the Orphanage, can you please make sure all my correspondence are forwarded to the library, either by floo or redirected owl.”

“Dippy can be doing that for Master,” Dippy said,

“Thank you. Oh, and I know that you’re new to our household, but please do not refer to me as ‘master’, I would prefer Mister Malfoy. Make sure the other house elves are reminded.” Dippy bobbed their head and disappeared again. Draco had left the room to check on the potions he was currently brewing in the laboratory he had renovated across the hall for easy access. He had a Wolfsbane potion brewing, seeing as he hadn’t made one for a while he wanted to make sure he could still brew it perfectly before having to dose anyone with it. He also had Dreamless Draught brewing, the Veela suppressant potion and Pepper-Up. The first two he found himself taking almost every day/night, the last was for the Orphanage stock.

-

Hermione was left stunned in her living room, heart thumping, and cheeks ablaze with so many emotions she wasn’t sure where to start. She wanted to take it back, follow him, apologize and kiss him all over. But she was also afraid of being hurt and disappointed. Her eyes started to glaze over because she had forgotten to blink. She closed her eyes and rubbed them a bit to lessen the sting. After a moment she touched her cheek where he had kissed her. Her heart was still hammering away like she was running for her life in the forest again. Hermione thought that being alone would be better than getting hurt. The break up with Ron hadn’t been that bad, the thing that was most hurtful was everyone else’s reactions. They had accused Hermione of thinking she was better than Ron and that she thought he wasn’t good enough for her and that they had always thought they’d end up together and have children and follow a certain path. They didn’t break up because she thought she was better than Ron or any nonsense like that, it was just because they didn’t end up being compatible in the end. The fact was, at this moment, a figurative ledge had appeared in front of Hermione, and she could either jump and have some amazing new experiences in love and passion, or she could stay where and how she was and nothing would change.

Hermione walked to her bedroom where she had a writing desk set up and started doing what she usually did before she made a big decision: she started writing a pro and con list.

_PRO:_   
_• Intelligent_   
_• Can hold a meaningful conversation_   
_• Has not spoken at length about Quidditch_   
_• Helpful ??_   
_• Rich - doesn’t really matter_   
_• Handsome_   
_• Can be nice_   
_• Owns many libraries worth of books_   
_• Well read - Enjoys reading_   
_• Trying to be a better person_

_CON:_   
_• Ex-Death Eater (not really by own choice)_   
_• Complicated past_   
_• Rich? - is that a con?_   
_• Used to bully me - not really since fifth year_   
_• Often conceals truth_

_NEUTRAL FACTS:_   
_• Rich_   
_• “Pure”blood_

“I need more data,” Hermione said to herself. She pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment and wrote two notes, one to Ginny and one to Luna for them to have dinner tomorrow night.


	14. Chapter 13

Hermione had spent most of the night awake deliberating with herself and imagining various scenarios with Draco. Her alarm had started ringing at her around 7 am, so she knew she must have dozed off at some point. She hadn’t any Dreamless Draught potion in her house since she had started to overuse it after the war and noticed she was getting dangerously close to addiction territory. 

_ Guess it’s time to start the day: pee, brush teeth, shower, breakfast, coffee, Daily Prophet, then I better go to the Orphanage,  _ She thought to herself.

Hermione left the comfort of her bed to go to the bathroom to start her morning routine.

_ I hope it isn’t weird today. We had such a great time yesterday. He’s so easy to work with, I don’t have to constantly nag him to get back to work because he’s working as hard as I am. I can’t believe we almost finished the ground floor in one day. There were three shelves left, then up to the second floor. I wonder what books are up there! I can’t wait to find out. But I hope it’s not awkward today. I don’t want to ruin how easy it has been between us. He was so good about me turning him down though. He didn’t seem phased in the least. Maybe he does know how much I’m attracted to him. Am I being obvious about it? I didn’t think I was staring at him or anything. Maybe he doesn’t know and is just conceited. I’m impressed he wasn’t mad or tried to talk me into going on a date. He respected my boundaries and I wouldn’t have expected that from him.. Well, maybe a few years ago, but he’s so different now. We’ll see how today goes and I’ll ask Ginny and Luna what they think. I need to know their thoughts, otherwise I’ll keep going around in circles. I wonder what information we can find about Veelas today. I wonder why he’s so interested about them. Well, I suppose it would be good to know about them and any care they might need if we have any joining our community and support section of the orphanage. I wonder how Andromeda is getting on in contacting families and locating orphans.  _

Hermione had left the bedroom, squeezing her hair with a towel to remove excess water before letting it air dry to reduce frizziness, she went to her kitchen to have breakfast. Checking the fridge she only had some milk left for a coffee, but the rest was pretty bare, apart from the leftover pizza from last night. She made a mental note to go food shopping before the girls came over. 

An owl had delivered her post along with a Daily Prophet. The post had a letter from Molly (to ask how she’s going and to to see if she wanted to come to dinner sometime on the weekend,) and from Minerva (general correspondence and another offer to work at Hogwarts as a charms, arithmancy or muggle studies teacher). Hermione will have to make sure to write them back sometime today. The Daily prophet was it’s usual nonsense; there wasn’t much to report since the wizarding world was back into peace, so of course there was coverage about the orphanage fundraising ball. It has said that many wealthy families had donated and what the cause was for, it had also asked that if anyone knew of any extra-magical families or children that need community support to be in contact with Andromeda Tonks. Overall, it was a decent article, without a shred of the diatribe Hermione was used to when reading about something she had organised. Hermione was surprised to see that Susan Bones had written the article. She hadn’t known that Susan was a journalist, if she had, she might’ve spent more time with them.  _ I’ll have to remember to ask Ginny about that _ , Hermione thought to herself.

When Hermione had arrived at the orphanage her nerves had spiked again about how her interactions with Draco will go. She made her way to the library to begin working on cataloguing. After a few minutes a warm hand had touched her right shoulder, causing her to jump with surprise, and upon realising it was Draco, she sagged with relief and covered her face and crumpled into a ball and tried not to cry from the fright. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you. You were pretty absorbed in working. Are you ok?” Draco said gently.

“I’m ok, I just almost had a heart attack. It’s fine.” Hermione said, head buried in her arms, willing her heart to slow and adrenaline to dissipate.

“Do you want a Calming Draught?” Draco offered, 

“No, thank you,” Hermione responded, 

“A cup of tea?” 

“... Yes, please”

“Blinky, a pot of tea and those biscuits with chocolate on them, please.” Draco called to the house elf. A moment later a tea service and a plate of biscuits appeared on the table Draco had set up as his work table. Draco helped Hermione stand and escorted her to sit at the desk. She poured herself some tea and nibbled on a biscuit. 

“Better?” Draco asked, 

“Yes… I'm sorry about that. I went into flight or fight mode, once I realised it was you and I wasn't in danger I broke out of the mode but adrenaline had already hit my system and well, it had to go somewhere.”

“No, I'm sorry for not announcing myself louder. Will you be alright?”

“I'll be fine, Draco,” Hermione said, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. 

“What time did you get in this morning?” Draco asked lightly, 

“Oh, not long ago, about 9 o’clock.”

“Did you sleep well last night?” Draco asked with a smirk,

“I slept fine, how did you sleep?” Hermione asked 

“I would've slept better if you were there,” Draco replied smoothly,

“Draco,” Hermione said in a warning tone, Draco grinned,

“it's fortunate I have a supply of Dreamless Draught,” he said more seriously. A few moments past between them as they had tea and biscuits. 

“So, what work do you have to do?” Hermione asked casually, Draco grinned in response. 

“Oh, wouldn't you like to know the inner workings of the Malfoy Corporation! First you seduce me and now you manipulate me to share our secrets!” Draco accused dramatically. Hermione raised her eyebrow at him.

“Honestly, Draco, if anything, you seduced me. I was just making conversation.”

“Is it a failure or a successful seduction?” Draco asked, Hermione blushed again, but tried to brush him off, 

“The jury is still out.” Hermione huffed as she stood to get back to work. Draco chuckled behind her.

“It’s just updates from some clients confirming meetings and sending in reports about how much money everyone is making or losing.” he called to her as she left. 

“If you need to leave to meet anyone just let me know so we can avoid another situation where you scare the living daylights out of me.” Hermione returned. 

“Sure thing, love” Draco called back, both silently stunned at his use of a pet name, neither saying anything about it.

 

When midday rolled around, Hermione had finished with the ground floor bookshelves and had decided it was time for lunch. So plopped herself by Draco at the desk, the same seat she had occupied that morning, and started reading one of the magical creature textbooks, waiting for Draco to mention lunch. This textbook had much of the same information any of the other books had said about Veelas:

_ “Veela are semi-human magical beings; the enchanting females have been noted to have white-gold hair and pale skin that appears to shine in moon-light. When angry, upset or away from their mate for an extended period, Veela take on a less aesthetically pleasing appearance; their faces elongate into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long scaly wings burst from their shoulders.” _

Exasperated, Hermione closed the book and tossed it into the ‘have read’ pile. Draco raised an eyebrow at her sudden outburst.

“Here I was, thinking you respected books enough not to throw them around like a heathen.”

“They all say the same thing and none have mentioned male Veelas. Why am I even upset, it was you who was curious about it.”

“Don't take it out on the books. I must've piqued your curiosity about it.” Draco smirked, now his attention was off his work he checked the time, “Okay, must be lunch time! Let's go to the kitchen.”

 

After lunch, they went back into a comfortable silence. Draco had moved whatever work he had left to a table on the second floor to be closer to Hermione. Hermione didn’t say anything but liked the gesture all the same. Later, after they had some afternoon tea, Draco had lost interest in the smaller bits of paperwork he had to do, so he helped catalogue a few of the bookshelves alongside Hermione. The pair were quite comfortable working in silence or chatting whenever either found an interesting book on an intriguing topic or if a title was a clever pun. They were still putting magical creature textbooks aside just in case there was some more information hidden away.

When Draco was called away to answer a Floo call Hermione had found a small leather-bound journal amongst the stacks. Obviously not a published work, she felt that she should put it aside to tell Draco about the misplaced journal, but that changed when she opened it. Written on the first page of the journal was ‘ _ Journal de Mademoiselle Lucia Jelenka - 1922’, _ and Hermione was overwhelmed with curiosity at how this journal had ended up here and wanted to read it immediately.

“What’s so interesting?” Draco asked as he walked up to see Hermione staring at this small book.

“It’s a journal written by Lucia Jelenka. Do you know who that is?” Hermione asked, Draco’s eyes had bugged a little before he quickly composed himself. 

“Lucia would be my great grand-mere. My father is named named after her because he resembled her so much.” Draco’s ears turned slightly pink, he looked hesitant, “If - uh, you can borrow it if you like, you look like you’re dying to read it. It’s entirely in French, I don’t know how fluent you are, but..” Draco trailed off

“You.. you understand French? Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“I.. well.. I didn’t want to embarrass you, since you sometimes mumble to yourself in French when you don’t want me to hear what you’re thinking and in that situation, before we were.. close..  if I answered you back in French then you would’ve had your guard up longer and I wanted you to be comfortable around me so we could be closer. I’m sorry if finding this out now upsets you, I honestly meant no harm.” Draco explained, his eyes pleading her her to understand.

“Draco,” Hermione started, then exhaled, “When something like this comes up you always react like I’m going to run away and never speak to you again.” Draco let out a humourless laugh, Hermione continued, “Give me some credit, okay. No one is immune from making mistakes and errors in judgement. I would’ve liked to have known sooner, but I understand your reasoning.” Hermione reached out to take his hand, her heart fluttering at the contact. She saw his eyes dilate. “Thank you for letting me borrow the journal, you’re right, I do want to read it.” Hermione grinned, “Is there anything else I should know about you, Draco Malfoy?” Hermione teased, Draco grimaced, seeing him react negatively Hermione became concerned.

“Yes, there is, but, give me a little time to work up to it, but please don’t fret over it. I know you’re going to over think about it until I say, but rest assured that it’s nothing harmful and ..” Draco sighed, Hermione placed her hand on his shoulder in comfort

“You know me so well, when did that happen?” Hermione joked lightly, “I’ll do my best not to over-think what you haven’t told me yet, and I’ll give you time. Relax, Draco. I’ve not run-off yet, have I?” 

“I sincerely hope you don’t,” Draco said, staring into her eyes intently. He saw Hermione’s dilated eyes flick down to look at his lips quickly then back to his own eyes. The urge to kiss was so strong, it took all of Draco’s strength to pull back slightly, an embarrassed flush on his cheeks. He couldn’t kiss her so close to his transformation; he wouldn't be able to stop if he did, and he did not want to further their relationship until she knew everything she was getting herself into.  Hermione flushed a little too. 

“Um, actually, Hermione, can you hold off on reading the journal until the weekend?” Draco said, his left hand scratching the back of his neck.

“Why not? Draco, that just magnified my curiosity tenfold! But fine, I promise, but I will have to keep it here then.” Hermione smiled, Draco returned the smile, amazed.

“You're so amazing. Do you have any plans tonight?”

“Yes, I need to go grocery shopping before Ginny and Luna come over for dinner. What about you?” 

“I was going to invite you to stay, but if you're busy I might ask Pansy, Blaise and Theo their plans.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you are still enjoying this! I know it's slow going and thank you for your patience! Please comment or please Kudos! I'm actually checking out your profiles to see if y'all have your own fics for me to read! 
> 
> It will all be revealed soon! I might have an entire chapter as excerpts from sweet great grandmere Lucia Jelenka's journal, but i haven't decided! Do you want some quick backstory on her in the notes before that goes up? It might not be in the journal, but we'll see. 
> 
> ALSO SOME INFO TO CONSIDER: looking into it, Lucius is born 1953/54 and he dies before 2020 (according to Cursed Child - i'm thinking he died 2017), so dude was only 63?? so much for wizard longevity, eh? I was thinking for Abraxas Malfoy, since he died in 1996 and since Lucius is his only son (born 1954) that Abaxas wouldn't have been older than mid-thirties in that time if he was desperate for a child - Lucius was 26 when Draco was born - so, if i think that maybe Abraxas was 30 when Lucius was born he was born 1924 - he'd still only be 72 when he died! Still very young for a wizard, right? I don't get it. Wizards are supposed to have a longer lifespan - maybe they die young because they're massive jerks. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts!


	15. Chapter 14

“Hello Hermione, I brought some raspberry wine, dad and I made it last season when the raspberries from our yard were in season.” Luna said after she entered the threshold and removed her orange and green sneakers.

“And I bought some brandy for later!” Ginny said cheerily, removing her boots.

“I’m so glad you guys could come over so last minute! I’m just putting this cherry pie in the oven, make yourselves comfortable.”

“I know we left fairly early, but you mentioned you were staying the night at the orphanage, how did you fair with your hangover? Mine was fine, Harry was suffering.” Ginny said, fetching the wine glasses in Hermione’s kitchen. Hermione laughed.

“I was fine after the coffee from the House Elves. Draco, however, was a mess! Not only was he hungover, but he was playing indoor quidditch with Blaise and Theo until five in the morning.” Hermione blushed at the memory of that morning. 

“You’re blushing! Did something happen?” Ginny asked, handing the glasses for Luna to pour her wine.

“Pansy dared Hermione to pretend Draco asked her out that night when he was drunk.” Luna offered,

“Yeah,” Hermione laughed, “I woke him up the next morning with coffee and he was just in his pants! I didn’t see anything, just his chest. Then later after breakfast I kissed him on the cheek and called him ‘sweetheart’ and he almost lost it, saying he thought someone drugged him because he couldn’t remember anything.” Hermione explained, Ginny laughed.

“Sounds adorable,” said Luna. 

“So you two are getting along pretty well. I’m glad. I thought I was going to have to hex him because of his bad attitude.” Ginny said.

“No, he’s changed so much.” 

“Hermione is in love with him,” Luna offered, unfazed. Hermione nearly screeched in shock at Luna’s statement.

“Luna!” 

“Hermione!” 

Hermione and Ginny yelled in unison. 

“How do you like the wine?” Luna asked brightly.

“It’s good, doesn’t taste how I’d expect, but I like it,” Ginny said. Hermione’s face was on fire,

“I’ll dish up dinner,” Hermione mumbled and stood. Ginny was stunned by Hermione’s silence on the matter, usually if someone had said something like that to her she would deny immediately and vehemently. 

“Do you really think she’s in love with him?” Ginny whispered to Luna. Luna nodded, 

“It’s obvious. I saw him at the ball, he was watching Hermione like a hawk when she interacted with men. I think he loves her too,” Luna whispered back,

“I didn’t see that!” Ginny answered. Hermione returned holding three bowls of pasta, Ginny and Luna grabbing a bowl to set in front of themselves. 

“How’s the library cataloguing going?” Ginny asked,

“Marvellous!” Hermione answered brightly, “the library has three levels and I started on the second level today.”

“It’s too bad we’re too busy to help you, but I don’t know how helpful I’d be, I’d probably lose focus after a few minutes.”

“Is Draco helping you?” Luna chimed in before Hermione to answer Ginny.

“Well, he did. We finished eighty-percent of the ground floor section of the library yesterday. He likes books almost as much as I do.” Hermione flushed,

“Not surprising, since he always scored the second highest marks in your year,” Luna stated, “This sauce is lovely! Did you use dried nettles?”

“Rosemary,” Hermione responded flatly,

“Did he?” Ginny asked, eyebrows raised,

“Yes, I often saw him studying while I was looking for wrackspurts. He was usually alone, so he’d say ‘hello’ every now and then. We’re second cousins, you know.” 

“I did not know!” Hermione considered,

“Who isn’t related to any of the pure-blood lines,” Ginny rolled her eyes, “We’re distant relatives too,”

“But the Malfoy’s weren’t into inbreeding at the Lestrange or Black families. My mum was related to Abraxas Malfoy somehow, but she never said. I think they tried to marry foreign pure-blood lines, mostly.” Luna explained airily. 

“Do you know who Lucia Jelenka is? I found her journal in the library. Draco said I could read it, but I had to wait until the weekend.”

“Why?” Ginny asked,

“He wanted to tell me something first, but he couldn’t just yet.” 

“Weird,” Ginny responded

“It was written in French, if that helps, and written in nineteen twenty-two.” Hermione offered,

“That doesn’t sound like a french last name.” Luna commented, continuing to eat the pasta. Hermione sighed knowing Luna wouldn’t tell her. 

“When do you go back to training?” Hermione asked Ginny.

\--

“So, are you here for dinner or would you like to rant at me again?” Pansy asked when Draco stepped through the Floo.

“Both,” Draco drawled, affecting some of the arrogance he used at school, Pansy smirked. 

“You’re such a drama queen, Draco, honestly. I thought you would’ve liked it. I saw you watching her all night.”

“That’s not the point Pans!” Draco asserted.

“Draco, hon, if she went along with my prank then she wasn’t repulsed by the idea, and if she kissed you then, well, depending how she acted afterwards, she might’ve even liked it.” Pansy reasoned, “I was doing you a favour. If she hadn’t thought about it before then, then she definitely thought about it after. Merlin, you can be so thick!” Pansy said as she turned to lead Draco into the kitchen where Blaise was cooking and Theo was helping. 

“Pansy, that’s not the point! The point is I kissed her cheek later that night because I’m an idiot and didn’t think about it, but if you hadn’t meddled in my business then I wouldn’t be in this mess.” 

“So you kissed Granger, huh?” Blaise chimed in, “nice work, maybe you can hold her hand next, then move on to walking her to her dormitory.” Theo giggled in response.

“It means we reciprocated an advancement! She doesn’t know I’m Veela yet!” Draco snapped,

“Oh, shit,” Theo gasped,

“I have to tell her by next week, that’s when my ne- the full moon is.” Draco sighed,

“Shit, Draco, I’m sorry.” Pansy said,

“Better sooner than later, though, right?” Blaise offered, “I don’t think she’ll reject you, though. Sounds like you already have a bond.”

“Yeah, absentmindedly calling her ‘love’ and kissing her goodnight, such a strong bond. I’m doomed.” Draco groaned. Theo put a glass of firewhiskey in front of him.

“Don’t worry about it, get smashed tonight and we’ll figure something out. When do you see her next?”

“Tomorrow.” Draco said flatly, “she quit her ministry job to focus on cataloguing the library. I moved my work station so we could work near each other.” 

“That’s adorable.” Pansy offered, rolling her eyes

“I’m so dumb, I asked her if Fleur had any brothers. You know, that quarter Veela from Beauxbatons who was in the Tri-Wizard tournament. Subtle way to ask her to research male Veela so she could piece it together.”

“That’s not a bad strategy,” Blaise said

“If we had months instead of days,” Draco said, taking a gulp of whiskey.

“Since you came to dinner so last minute, you’re dinner is lettuce and these sesame seed snaps,” Theo joked, Pansy nudged him in the ribs.

“Do you have a plan?” Pansy asked Draco,

“No,” he sighed, “But she found my great-grand mere's journal,”

“I bet she wanted to read it!” Pansy snorted,

“Yes, she did. I told her she could but later this week. I’m not sure if i should just let her read it and find the truth, or if I should just bite the bullet and tell her myself.” Draco said, taking another mouthful of whiskey.

“Draco, let me be brutally honest,” Blaise said, putting a bowl of lentil soup in front of him. Pansy and Theo served themselves, giving the two space. “Knowing what I do about Granger, I would say she would appreciate the direct method more than reading about it from your ancestor. Man up! She is your mate! You don’t have to guess like we did. And she already likes you. Just, go for it!” 

“Okay.” Draco said, patting Blaise on the shoulder. He tried the soup, “This is good, is that rosemary?” 

“Dried nettle,” Blaise smirked.

-

Hermione, Ginny and Luna were quite buzzes after finishing Luna’s two wine bottles and half of Ginny’s brandy. Ginny was laughing, Luna was grinning dazedly when Hermione was recounting her movie night with Draco.

“I can’t believe he asked to watch another movie and for it to be a date! That’s so awkward!” Ginny howled with laughter.

“I think it was cute,” Luna sighed, 

“It was embarrassing! I was fine thinking he was attractive from a distance, I didn’t think he would make a move!”

“Technically you made the first move,” Ginny was choking with laughter, living vicariously through her awkward friend.

“And - Gin, you’ll love this - He kissed  _ my  _ cheek when he left!” Hermione grinned,

“Oh!” Luna marvelled, “He reciprocated an advancement! How nice!”

“What?” Hermione asked

“That sounds technical. Congratulations of the reciprocation in advancement, Hermione!” Ginny joked.

“Oh, fuck.” said Hermione, shocked.  

-

“You know what?” Draco slurred, “I’m goin’ to go to her house and tell her right now!” 

Draco stood and swayed a little.

“You certainly can’t apparate in that state,” Pansy drawled, “Is she connected to the Floo?” 

“No, she’s trying to maintain some of her muggle heritage and not use magic as much at home.” Draco pouted. Pansy sighed in annoyance. 

“Here,” Blaise said handing a bottle to Draco, “it’s some sobering potion, unless you only have this kind of courage when you're drunk.” 

Draco hurriedly uncorked the potion and down it in one go. 

“Go get her, slugger,” Theo smirked, patting him on the back. 

“Thanks guys,” Draco said and left the house to apparate outside.

“He’s hopeless,” Pansy said, resting her head on Theo’s shoulder. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babes! I think we might be winding down. It's getting harder for me to focus on writing these chapters. I basically wrote this whole thing today, and i'm going to try even harder to get ahead with my chapters so this doesn't happen again. 
> 
> Once i finish the story, the intention is to go through all the chapters to fix up any mistakes or errors (ie werewolfism/lycanthropy, etc) that you guys alert me too. I really do appreciate your comments and kudos they keep me going. Every hit on this story feeds my fire to finish. I actually screenshot at every chapter update to see how many hits i got between updates! 
> 
> Thanks again!


	16. Chapter 15

“Are you kidding me right now! Luna, tell me right now: were you being eccentric or did you say that on purpose?” Hermione was shaking with frustration, not at her friend, but at Draco.

“It isn’t my place to say, but you’re smart, Hermione, list the facts.” Luna replied calmly.

“He has light blond hair and grey eyes, that hardly counts as solid evidence for him being part Veela.” Hermione scoffed

“Draco’s Veela?” Ginny spluttered,

“What else? Any behaviours that you’ve observed?” Luna questioned lightly,

“Well, he’s been nice to me, but that’s because he’s an adult and he doesn’t have to save face for his parents anymore.”

“Hermione,” Luna warned,

“Okay,” Hermione huffed, getting serious and thinking without emotion, “The first time we met when I offered him the potion master position he was aggressive, and almost immediately after he invited me out for dinner to talk about it and he was nice then. I thought it was weird, but that doesn’t mean -”

“How did you feel at that time?” Luna asked, Ginny sat in silence eyes moving back and forth between her two friends like a game of tennis. 

“Well, I was nervous to see him for that meeting, so I already had adrenaline, but when I first saw him at his desk when I  was let in my heart rate jumped.” 

Luna nodded her head, “How was the tour at the orphanage with Andromeda and Teddy?” 

“It was fine. He was gracious and got along well with Teddy.” Hermione blushed, thinking about that day,

“You said something happened during the tour? You tripped or something, how did that make you feel?” Ginny asked, trying to help.

“I - uh-” Hermione looked at the ground remembering that first time in Draco's arms, “Well, how would you feel if an attractive guy caught you when you fell over? It felt nice - awkward - but nice. He smells good.” 

“Ginny, would you say Harry smells nice?” Luna asked,

“Uh, yeah, but it’s mainly his aftershave,” Ginny offered, confused,

“Hermione?” Luna asked, expected her to know what she meant.

“Draco doesn’t wear aftershave.” she confessed.

“And, what do the textbooks say?”

“Veela mates find the natural scent of their mates very pleasant.” Hermione recited sullenly.

“You mentioned that before the ball you hadn’t seen Draco since the tour. What happened when you met him again?” Luna asked changing track, seeming to know the answer anyway, but waiting for Hermione to understand.

“He caught me when I fell again. I tripped over a footstool in the library and he caught me from behind. I didn’t even know he was there. His eyes looked darker, but seemed to lighten a bit later.”

“Anything in the textbooks about what happen to Veela when they’re away from their mates for an extended period of time?” Luna asked

“Not from what I read, but they transform slightly when angry or upset. I haven’t found any information on male Veela in the library.” 

“Draco seems to have made it clear that he’s romantically interested in you. Him being a Veela or not is irrelevant. Do you want to be in a romantic relationship with Draco?” Luna asked. 

Hermione thought for a moment, silently weighing her the facts in her head. Draco being Veela was new information, but did it matter to her if that is what he is? She needed more information and there was only one person who could tell her what she needed to know. 

“I need to talk to Draco about this. You guys can hang out here if you want and finishing eating that pie or watch a movie. Gin, can you feed Crooks please? I’ll write you later. Tell your mum I’ll take a rain-check on dinner, I might be too busy this weekend.” Hermione had put on her shoes and a coat and ran out of her apartment. 

“Too busy banging Draco,” Ginny laughed, “This is wild! You knew he was a Veela all this time?” 

“Not until I saw him talking to Fleur at the ball. She must’ve said something to aggravate him because he almost transformed. Veela heritage is a closely guarded secret in some pure-blood families, so I don’t know much. I’d love to read that journal though,” Luna’s eyes glinted mischievously.

“Are you Veela, too?” Ginny asked, Luna shrugged.

“It hasn’t manifested in me. It’s different for everyone, but it seems like the Veela DNA is quite prominent in Draco. I wonder if his mother’s family has Veela in it, too. There hasn’t been many studies done on male Veela, I wonder if he would mind…” Luna trailed off. 

_ *POP* _

“Hermione, are you here?” Draco called as soon as he apparated. 

“Careful, you’ll break the microwave, cousin!” Luna called. Draco looked at them with confusion, then apprehension dawned on him.

“Oh, right, she said she was having dinner with you. Where is she?” Draco asked, 

“She went to look for you. She knows you’re Veela.” Luna said.

“Fuck!” Draco swore, “Where did she go?”

“I don’t know. But, could I interview you for about male Veela sometime? You can remain anonymous if you’d prefer.” Luna said.

“Yeah, sure, whatever. If she comes back tell her I’m at the orphanage.”  

Draco disapparated and there was a loud bang in the kitchen. 

“He broke the microwave,” Ginny laughed.

 

\--

 

“Pansy, Blaise or Theo?” Hermione called through the Floo from the orphanage. 

“Is that you Granger?” Blaise asked as he came in view of the fireplace.

“Is Draco there?” she asked as Pansy and Theo came into view as well. 

“He went to find you,” Theo laughed,

“Bugger,” Hermione said, “If he comes back can you tell him that I know and that I’m at the orphanage reading the journal.” 

“Sure,” Pansy said, “It didn’t take you long to figure it out. I hope you accept him, ok? He means a lot to us, even if he is an overdramatic prat.” 

“I’ll take that into consideration, but I need to talk to him first. I’m sure he’ll keep you updated.” and she pulled her head out of the green flame of the floo, leaving the trio without another word and accio’d the journal to her to wait for him to find her. 

 

\--

 

Excerpt from ‘ _ Journal de Madmoiselle Lucia Jelenka - 1922’, _

_ I met him today. I was walking around London, my new home, getting a feel for the city and it’s people. I felt him before I saw him. Mother had always told me stories about what it feels like when you find your mate.  _

_ First, my stomach fluttered and I felt a pull in my chest. I went off walking quite fast following my instincts. I tried not to make too much of a scene - people are still very careful since the war has finished, and my pheromones got a little out of control, so many people stopped as I rushed by. I had to weave between crowds. It was a sunday near the markets so there were many people out getting sun with families and friends.  _

_ I finally found my mate, he was walking towards a part in town I had not ventured towards yet, I later found it to be a public house which connected to wizarding London, but I will talk about that later. He is a tall gentleman with golden hair and light brown eyes, he has sharp features, but a lovely dimple in his left cheek when he smiles. I won’t reveal his name unless he gives me permission. But, I get ahead of myself. _

_ As I said, I was walking in the markets and I felt the pull and I followed it. I was in such a rush that I hadn’t realised he noticed my presence too and he lead me to an alleyway where, in my rush, I ran straight into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me to steady us both and I was in heaven, but his face showed many complicated emotions. For simplicity I will write the dialogue as best as I can remember.  _

_ “Why are you following me?” he said in a hushed voice. I had been taught from a young age that not many people are accepting of Veela, so I should use caution whenever I can.  _

_ I told him “I thought you were someone I had known quite well,” but he was suspicious, _

_ “Is that so?” he asked. I could tell the pull was affecting him also because he hadn’t let go of my shoulders and his eyes had darkened. _

_ “Yes, I believe we were lovers in a past life,” I replied. I know. I know that what I said is utterly improper and forward and no proper person could say this to a stranger, but I was distracted. It can be sometimes overwhelming when a Veela meets their mate for the first time and I obviously did not handle this with as much grace as I should have. Mother, my she rest well, would have been appalled.  _

_ “Yes, I believe we were,” he had replied to me with a charming smile, giving me my first look at his cheek dimple. My boldness had worked, I was so surprised and happy. He then took my hand in the crook of his elbow and guided me towards that public house I had mentioned, the sign had said  _ ‘The Leaky Cauldron’. _ When we walked through my mate had been regarded with such respect from the patrons, my heart filled with pride on his behalf. He lead me to a brick wall, and tapped it with his wand a few times. That is when I first realised my mate is a wizard. What luck! This meant that hopefully I wouldn’t have to explain to much to him about my Veela heritage.  _

_ “What is your name, my dear?” he asked me _

_ “Lucia,” I told him and he told me his name, first and surname, which was French, so it was even better that he may be able to speak to me in my native language. English can get difficult at times. I asked him if he spoke French, to which he replied he could. I was so happy that I seemed to be having such wonderful luck with my mate. Mother had told me some of the horror stories as a precaution, I will not go into them here. _

_ He lead me through a wizarding market, similar to the ones in Paris and down a side street to an establishment I think he owned as he had told the cashier, Monsieur Borgin, that he was going to use the office. When we entered he sat me in a chair and used a rope tying spell to detain me. _

_ “Who sent you, Lucia? Do you work for Grindelwald?” he asked me. _

_ “No one sent me!” I told him. _

_ “What do you want? You’re Veela. Did someone pay you to seduce me?” He asked.  _

_ “No! I am your mate, surely you feel it?” I started to cry, he was no longer charming, he was fighting the pull and it hurt. I knew I was too lucky for that moment. Life has many complications, mother had always said so.  _

_ “Explain yourself!” he ordered. _

_ I told him about my life. About how during the Great War my family had died, Veela, like wizards, are not immune to muggle weapons if they are taken by surprise. I told him my mother had been killed when she was trying to help some muggles in our village with their wounds. I told him how I couldn’t bear to live in a place that reminded me of her, so I had moved to England where the Germans had not invaded and nothing reminded me of her. She lives only in my heart, and that is fine with me. I told him how I was walking in the markets to explore my new city when I had felt the pull towards him, my mate.  _

_ During my tale I felt a slight breeze enter my mind, and I knew he was trying to see if I was lying. I was offended that he had thought I was one of those Veela who seduced men, mother had called them sirens. She taught me to only use our gifts to help and were never bought for our abilities and I told him so, unafraid to show him my temper.  _

_ He seemed satisfied, then concerned. He vanished the ropes that held me. “I must apologize,” he said, “One can never be too careful when meeting new people. You understand?” I nodded and said that I did.  _

_ “This is troublesome, I do feel the pull to you, but, I am married, you see.” He confessed. I felt my heart break. I would rather he thought I was a spy. I was too late in meeting him. _

_ “Let’s have some lunch,” he said after a moment of reflection. I accepted and he lead me out of the store and back to the main street to the public house. He told the barkeep we would be eating in a private room.  _

_ During lunch I had learned that my mate was the heir to a very successful business and he had married six years ago when he was twenty-two due to pressure from his family and they had not yet produced an heir which was causing a strain on his relationships with his wife and parents. He had explained how the family usually only had one child per generation so rivalries wouldn’t occur. Apparently something dreadful had happened many generations ago that led to this tradition.  _

_ We had laughed at the coincidence that our names have similar meanings and talked about a great many things we enjoyed or disliked. He had politely asked for my age, which I confessed at being twenty-two, the age he had married. He asked where I lived; the Women’s Lodge near Borough markets. He asked if it was alright by me if he collect me tomorrow to live in his mansion in Wiltshire, which is some distance from London. He said “I had some business to take care of in London, it’s lucky you actually met me today,” to which I laughed and reminded him that we were soul mates and we would’ve met when fate wanted us to met. His face looked awestruck. Suddenly, he got up and said he was late to his meeting and that he will see me tomorrow.  _

_ On my walk back home I had realised I hadn’t asked what his wife would think about him bringing home his Veela-mate. When I arrived back at the lodge I wanted to write down what had happened before I forgot. I will pack now and see what tomorrow has in store. It turns out my mate is quite complicated, but I am sure everything will be fine in the end.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter is ok, i had a spasm in my neck this week so i didn't get much down, but, having said that, this turned out to be one of the longer chapters due to the Journal excerpt. I hope you like Lucia perspective, i don't know how much i'll include of the journal or what Draco will explain. Sorry for another cliff and putting off their confrontation, as soon as my neck isn't such a pain (in the neck) i hope i get get a bunch more stuff written as my next work contract is coming up and i will have absolutely no time to write while i'm working. Maybe i can finish the story by then. 
> 
> Thank you again for your continued support. Next chapter they will talk things out, i promise. Let me know if you want more of Lucia's journal.


	17. Chapter 16

Hermione’s concentration on the journal was broken by a sudden pop of apparition when Draco arrived in the library. He was a few feet from where Hermione had made herself comfortable on an armchair.

“Hermione!” he called desperately, but hesitated walking closer to her.

“Draco,” Hermione replied coolly, her eyes not leaving the journal, but finding she could no longer read as all her focus was on Draco , but she did not want him to know this. 

“I went to your house to find you, Luna said you were here.” 

Hermione didn’t respond. She couldn’t respond, not yet. She needed to hear Draco to confess. Her heart was pounding with anticipation. Draco’s bravery had started to waver. He suddenly found himself unsure and nervous. He tried to swallow his fear and face this head on - like Hermione would do.

“Hermione,” Draco started, feeling his resolve return, “I take it that you’ve figured it out, but I’ll just come straight out and say it: I’m a Veela.” 

Hermione’s eyes left the page and she stared at his eyes. She still said nothing. Waiting. 

“I’m your mate, Hermione, if you’ll have me.” Draco said softly, he knelt in front of her, eyes pleading. 

Hermione regarded him in silence, eyes sweeping over his hair, eyes, nose, lips. Draco had some very faint freckles across his cheeks. 

“Draco,” Hermione finally whispered, “I know,” 

Draco eyes lit up with hope.

“But I need more information,” Hermione continued, “I have so many questions and I need you to tell me everything.”

“Of course,” Draco said in a business-like manner to cover any hurt he felt at her not accepting him straight away. He wasn’t surprised by her needing all the facts before she could make such a big decision, but he had a small seed of hope she would. “Where would you like me to start?” Draco sat on the couch in front of the fireplace and patted the seat next to him as a silent question for her to sit next to him.

“Um, maybe just talk and if I have questions I’ll ask.” Hermione said was she moved to the couch and sat facing him, while he sat facing the fire. Draco took a steadying breath before starting.

“Okay. I was visiting my parents for my twentieth birthday and they told me then about the secret Veela history, giving me Lucia’s journal to read and mum told me that Aunt Bella and Andy are her half sisters and her birth mother was a Veela. I think Grandmother Black mistreated her quite a bit because of it, but she didn’t want to talk about it much. I think that’s the reason why she’s such a good occlumens. My father was actually named after Lucia because he was born with such light coloured hair. Apparently, it was a marvellous coincidence that they were mates for each other. Lucia was a great believer in Fate, so she was ecstatic about it.

“Anyway, I had a row with my parents about it, telling them how hypocritical they are about blood purity when they aren’t even one hundred percent human and how they fucked my life up because of it. The thing with having a Veela mate in a pure bloodline is that it’s supposed to be lucky and fortuitous as the natural charm can allow you to get what you want more easily. You can’t force a Veela to be your mate or force offspring because they’ll transform and attack you if they are really against it. It’s preferable to have a female Veela partner, rather than a male Veela.” Draco paused, and glanced side-long at Hermione who was hanging on and soaking up every word. 

“Why is it preferable to have a female Veela mate?” Hermione asked, Draco smirked,

“Patriarchy, Hermione, love. Better to be human yourself and have a Veela by your side so men are jealous and want to be around you. Male Veela only attract women and gay men, not very helpful for business in this kind of society. There’s also - ah, crap, do you want a drink? I need a drink.” Draco asked, Hermione nodded. 

“So it’s mainly sexist. Your mum is half Veela, I had no idea. I’ve never seen any one fall over to get to attention.”

“She has very good control over her pheromones, she had to learn that quickly else I think she got a beating from Grandmother Black.” Draco said summoning the liquor tray and pouring himself a whiskey and Hermione a brandy. 

“How’d you know I wanted brandy?” Hermione asked,

“It’s a Veela thing, I don’t want to say it’s our bond because that’s after you accept it,  it’s more of a link. I can sort of feel what you need and how you feel.” 

“Oh,” was all Hermione could say before she took a mouthful of brandy. “So, why did your parents side with Vol- uh, you know,” 

Draco sighed, “My father didn’t know until he had already joined, and mother followed her mate and kept quiet. Female Veela get the pheromones during puberty, but don’t find their mate until maturity. Female maturity is earlier than male maturity, like humans, but father had already left school by then. They had met at a Death Eater function and mother being as discreet as she was, took my father aside and, you know, being drunk at a party, I shouldn’t have to infer much more, but that’s when father had realised his own heritage. Apparently it’s rare for two Veela to pair up, but he is only a quarter Veela… I don’t know. But they had to pretend like everything was normal, so they pretended to court for a while and got married but they had bonded pretty soon after meeting from what they told me, I didn’t want too many details.”

“When did you first…?” 

“When did I first transform?” Draco asked for clarification, Hermione nodded, “The full moon after my twentieth birthday. Apparently it’s quite unusual for a non-full blooded Veela male to be able to transform, but genetics are weird. But I do transform during the full moon and that is why I’m vegan. Not all Veelas are vegan, by the way, I just felt weird about eating animal protein after my first transformation.”    

“There isn’t a lot of information about male Veela or transformations.” Hermione said, Draco grinned,

“Yeah, like I said, I can’t speak for all male Veela, my father most definitely isn’t affected like I am, he’s practically human, my grandfather, Lucia’s son, from what I remember he wasn’t either. It’s, uh, much like a werewolf, but I turn into a bird-like creature.” Draco blushed, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Ok,” Hermione nodded slowly, remembering Lupin’s transformation, “So.. wings?” Draco nodded, “do they spring out of your back?”

“No, my arms turn into wings, I get feathers, my feet turn into… you get the idea, I turn into a giant bird, basically.” Draco said, buried his face in his hands.

“And a beak?” Hermione asked, the lightness in her tone made Draco turn his head to face her and he found a small smile on her lips,

“No,” he said

“Can you fly?” she asked

“Yes,” Draco smiled in response

“I saw you fly on your broom the other night, after the ball, and, uh, I remember seeing you flying at school, it wasn’t quidditch practice, but you really look happy flying,” 

“It’s amazing, I think it’s the best thing about this whole thing.” Draco smiled,

“Draco,” Hermione began seriously, “why is it me?” 

“I don’t know,” Draco sighed, losing his smile, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m actually thrilled about being your mate. You’re so thoughtful and kind to others and so intelligent. I don’t know how this whole ‘mate’ thing is decided, as far as I can tell it’s not a conscious decision. A Veela isn’t like ‘I choose them!’. it’s a pull and a ‘that’s them!’. Personally, I feel like some sort of personal preference is involved, I have been attracted to intelligent women in the past, uh, actually, you were one of them.” Draco confessed.

“Are you serious?” Hermione asked, shocked

“Yeah,” Draco laughed, “I liked you since sixth year, but I knew I never had a chance, so I just let it go.”

“And now I’m your mate,” Hermione laughed, “I don’t believe in Fate, but that’s a terrible coincidence.” 

“You’re telling me,” Draco laughed with her, “but, uh, not to be pedantic but, I’m not  _ your _ mate, Hermione,  _ you  _ are  _ my  _ mate.”

“What do you mean?” Hermione asked, her head tilting to the side, Draco took another large mouthful of whiskey.

“You see, you have a choice. You can either accept me as your mate, or you can reject me.” Draco said honestly, meeting her eyes.

“Oh, I didn’t know that,” 

“Yeah, I know what I would prefer, and why I didn’t tell you immediately. I wanted you to get to know me as I am now, rather than who I was before, uh, maturity.” Draco raised his eyebrows, Hermione looked down into her brandy, thinking. 

“Pansy said something.. What happens to you if I reject you?” 

“To be honest, I would rather not talk about that. It’s… not something I want to affect your decision.” 

“Draco,” Hermione’s voice turned hard, a warning that she wanted to know,

“Hermione,” Draco pleaded, and sighed as they stared at each other and Draco knew she needed to hear it. “Veela get affected in a certain way when away from their mate for an extended time,” he paused,

“That’s in the texts,” Hermione said,

“Yes, it’s something… similar… when they’re rejected.” Draco took refilled his glass, took a long drink before continuing, “After the tour, I stayed in my rooms at the manor, seeing no one and corresponding through letters, yes?” Hermione nodded, “At first it was because I was afraid of being close to you in any capacity, but shortly after it was out of necessity. Since we were parted I became irritated and short tempered. Then physical changes occurred; my nails turned into talons, my irises became black and you could no longer see the whites of my eyes, my canines became larger. That was only from two weeks, and no full moon transformation. If you were to reject me, it would get much worse, especially since we kissed each other's cheeks, which I am so sorry for, I wasn’t thinking. I would eventually have to be caged or taken to St Mungos, and since my madness couldn’t be fixed, they would either put me down for being rabid or put me under a stasis.” Draco brushed his hand over his eyes, Hermione was silent beside him. “It doesn’t happen often, last rumoured rejection was sixty years ago,” Draco added, eyes downcast.

“I didn’t want to tell you that, it’s a huge thing to put on your shoulders. I don’t want that to affect your decision, I want you to chose me because you like me, not because of... I like you, Hermione, not because of the Veela-mate thing. I’ve admired you for years.” He confessed quietly.

Hermione was silent for some time, she was watching the firewood burn and crack, she was lost in thought. Draco sat in silence, too, terrified about what Hermione was thinking. He couldn’t feel any particular emotion from her,  _ she’s processing, it’s a lot of think about _ , he thought. 

“What does ‘reciprocating an advancement’ mean?” Hermione asked suddenly

“It means I fucked up and forgot about you kissing me at breakfast because it didn’t feel like the same day.” Draco rubbed his hand over his eyes in frustration, he sighed again, “It means that next transformation I will try to seek you out. It’s nothing sinister, and it’s not like I’m going to... rut.. you or anything. It’s an instinctual thing. Our link is stronger, not a full bond. To be plain, it means I miss you and that i have to be near you.” Draco blushed, thinking it was an embarrassing thing to admit, but he felt a flutter, so he looked over to see Hermione with a gentle smile on her face. 

“I’ve been around a werewolf transformation, it looked painful. Are yours painful? Is there a Veela version of wolfsbane potion?” Hermione started to hammer him with questions, truthfully, Draco was glad for them. 

“It is painful, but it’s fine. Veela aren’t as volatile as werewolves, only when provoked or stressed, but I have created a suppressant potion I take whenever I’m under a lot of stress. It’s more like a relaxant because I don’t want to sprout feathers or talons when dealing with idiots. I took a rather large dose the night we had dinner, you see, I didn’t take it very well that you were my mate. It took me by surprise and because I had spent so much time trying not to think about you, my secondary response was to be angry about it. I apologise, again for that,” Draco added sheepishly,

“Draco - what’s your middle name?” Hermione started with a huff, but asked sweetly,

"Lucius,” Draco responded,

“Draco Lucius Malfoy, I keep telling you to stop apologising to me for things that happened in the past! Didn’t I warn you last time? I’ll have to hex you!” Hermione stated, flourishing her wand and cast a nonverbal combination levitating and rope tying curse. 

“Is there anything else I should know about Veela or about you or anything before I make up my mind?” Hermione asked sternly, gazing at the stunned silent Draco Malfoy hovering in front of her. 

“I - I don’t think so?” Draco stuttered, completely lost for words, “Unless you have questions?” 

Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco’s neck and kissed him, casting another nonverbal spell, this time to dispel the ropes and set him back on solid ground. As soon as he was able, Draco’s arms circled her waist and returned the kiss, deepening it, Hermione allowing his tongue entrance before it had asked, wanting to explore the taste of each other. Hermione moaned in appreciation and Draco tightening his grip around her, one hand finding an ass cheek to grip, the other sliding up her back. Hermione’s hands were doing their own thing too, one was on the side of Draco's jaw, feeling the muscles underneath work as he kissed her, and the other was gripping the back of his hair. 

Hermione suddenly pulled back, “Um,” she started, “I… need to go.” She said as she backed away from Draco, a sly smile on her face. Draco returned her smile,

“Take this,” Her said as he handed her the journal, “I’ll see you tomorrow,” 

“Thanks, see you tomorrow,” Hermione blushed as she left the room to apparate from the apparition zone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, oh my god, you guys! (Legally Blonde the Musical reference!) Stuff is happening. Everything is coming up Draco! And there is so many words! One of our longest chapters yet! wow!! So, i think we're winding down. We might have a few family meetings in the future. for anyone interested; next chapter will have a journal entry. I will apologise now, i've not written smut before, so i might not in this... but i'll do my best, for you wonderful readers who comments and leave kudos, i'll try,.. if that's what you want. 
> 
> Health update: My neck is doing a lot better, but i need to remember to stretch it out; i'm hoping to get some magnesium tablet this week to help relax the muscles. 
> 
> thank you again for the constant support with kudos, and especially comments! I will always do my best to reply to comments and i'm more than willing to answer questions. 
> 
> xx


	18. Chapter 17

Excerpt from ‘ _ Journal de Madmoiselle Lucia Jelenka - 1922’, _

_ My apologies, it has been a few days since my last entry. Many things have happened. The move into the Manor went as smoothly as I’d hoped. There was no sign of his wife, I only met some house elves. I didn’t have any items with me when I moved to London from France, so it did not take long for me to get my rooms settled. Rooms, yes, there are many my mate has decided I can live in. I have a few rooms in the east wing of the manor including a bedroom, a bathroom, a small library and study, as well as a delightful sun room. On that first day, after my mate had shown me the east wing, he had to leave me alone for the rest of the day to take care of some business, but he came back for dinner.  _

_ The first day was very lonesome. My mate had said I could redecorate these particular rooms however I wanted and to call for the house elves if I needed anything and that they will serve me lunch in the sunroom. The sunroom I want to paint white and have white furniture and have beautiful green plants and flowers covering the room, like a greenhouse. It will be a comforting room where I intend to spend a lot of time. At dinner that night my mate said that I will be meeting his parents the following day during an afternoon tea, and meeting his wife that night at dinner. It was difficult not to touch my mate again, but he had insisted that he will visit me again for breakfast. Those first days were isolating, especially since I earned to be by my mates side. Of course, I wanted to bond with him as soon as possible, but I know that humans have complicated lives. I had to be patient, but prolonging a bond can have side-effects.  _

_ The morning on the second day, I had asked my mate permission to use his name in this journal. I had explained that this was a personal keepsake for myself and future family members. I wanted my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, to know about our lives. Veela mixed children can show different traits and I want them, you, to know what a full-blood Veela is and how our magic works, especially when finding a mate. My mate agreed. His name is Helios Malfoy, the only son of the Malfoy line, like his father before him for many generations. The rest of our breakfast was wonderful. We talk about all sorts of things, but not about our future, not yet. He gave me hope of our bond by kissing the wrist of my hand hand. I very nearly floated away with happiness.  _

_ Not much of anything happened during that day, I spent some time in my study reading whatever seemed interesting. I was mostly restless to meet Helios’ parents.  _

_ But I had worried for nothing. It was slightly awkward to meet them, but they were welcoming. Helios’ introduced me as “Lucia, his Veela mate,” which calmed me immediately hearing him say the words out loud, like we were bonded already. They had smiled and introduced themselves. We spoke of trivialities throughout our tea, remarking on my accent and how well I spoke English. They asked where I was from and they had said that they had a home on the south coast of France, i said i had never been to the south coast, as our home was in the north. It was all so very lovely, and pleasant but I was keen to know what will happen to our bond. I did not want to be rejected, no Veela wants to be, the consequences are too horrific.  _

_ After tea I asked Helios what the outcome of the tea meant and when we can bond and what about his wife. He did not want to share details with me yet, but he smiled kindly at me and reassured me everything will be fine. I told him: “No, I need to know, the stress is going to make me transform, please tell me now!”  _

_ He explained, “First, my wife,” he nearly spat the title, “would like to meet with you and she wants to explain the situation to you. I am the head of this house, but I owe much to grant her this. I promise, I don’t mean to stress you on purpose. I thought it would stress you more if you were present during those meetings. My wife, she can be… difficult.. When she wants. Everything will be fine, dearest.” He kissed me then as a promise that we will bond soon. A bond is not sealed with a kiss, but it holds a promise. Very few Veelas have kissed their mate and not bonded afterwards.   _

_ Dinner with Helios’ wife was much more awkward than tea with his parents. She was a haughty woman, very beautiful, but there was hidden power behind her. I had a very keen awareness that if she did not want Helios and myself to bond then there was no way we could. It seemed that being away from Helios suited her plans and wants very well.  _

_ First words she said to me were: “So, you are the Veela. I must say I am disappointed. I’ve heard much about your species and how beautiful they are. You don’t strike me as such. Tell me, are Veela usually so diminutive in stature?”  _

_ I merely gulped and responded, feeling threatened somehow, although she was polite, “Yes, ma’am, I am rather small. I have some cousins much taller than I.” _

_ Helios sneered at his wife, “Belvina, come now, Lucia is your ticket out of our farce of a marriage, surely you could muster up some more polite conversation.”  _

_ Belvina resettled herself in her chair, “Of course, dear husband, how rude of me. Lucia, dear, I do hope you are much better suited to this.. person.. Than I am. I do hope he treats you well.”  _

_ “Indeed,” Helios said back, “I do hope Herbert Burke is well. No doubt he is thrilled make whatever arrangement you have official.”  _

_ The tension between Helios and Belvina was enough to put me off my dinner. Helios had only mistreated me when he thought I meant him harm, I do not think he would treat me so badly in the future, Veela bonded mates are usually very affectionate towards each other. It was clear to me that Belvina and Helios have equal dislike for each other after years of whatever arrangement they had. I feel that there may have never been any warm feelings between the two. Helios later told me that the marriage had been arranged between their parents to bring together two powerful families.  _

_ After dessert, Belvina explained: “To business, then, it may be clear to you, but my husband and I do not get along. We married when we were young, it was rushed. I do not mind sharing such personal information with you, but it was rushed due to pregnancy. After our wedding I had miscarried. It became clear to us that a peaceful marriage between us could not work. We blame each other for the complications, even now. Our behaviours after the event were irreparable. We both had affairs afterwards to deal with our grief and hatred. Our pride and the pride of our families would not have us divorce, it is much too shameful. Which is why it is rather fortuitous for us both that you have found your mate. You may not be aware, but there are laws here which allow a marriage to be annulled if one of the couple has a Veela mate. So, tomorrow, we three travel to the Ministry to qualify your mateship and to annul our shoddy marriage.”  _

_ Truthfully, I was not aware of this law. This information about a miscarriage did concern me a little bit, but I am confident in our bond and Veela magic may strengthen any fault in Helios reproductive abilities, if they were the cause.  _

_ “Qualify our mateship?” I asked Helios _

_ “It means some ministry official will gauge our bond to see if it is real and not a conspiracy to annul our marriage without any sort of scandal.” _

_ “But we are not bonded yet,” I pointed out to Helios  _

_ He responded “Yes, well, we cannot bond until the Ministry has given us the freedom to do so, but since we’ve kissed we have a link, so whatever procedures they deem necessary to measure our legitimacy should come back in the positive. If I wasn’t married then this wouldn’t be an issue.”  _

_ “What are they going to do?” I asked, Helios said he didn’t know. This had me worried, but if they respect the Veela Bond as much as they would annul a marriage to accommodate for it, then perhaps it would be so bad, I thought.  _

_ I had thought wrong. To gauge the legitimacy of our bond the Ministry had kept me away from my mate on purpose to see if I would transform from the lack of contact. I was put in a confined living accommodation for two days. In that time my fingernails had turned into talons, my eyes darkened, the hair on my arms and legs had turned into down feathers. Since it was between full moons they were lucky I had not transformed fully, but since my mate had I had kissed, the promise of a bond, the lack of contact had occurred quicker. If Helios and I had only perhaps shaken hands since meeting the separation transformation would have taken maybe two or three weeks. My temperament had also become very aggressive.  _

_ An official checked on my condition when giving me meals. By the second evening's dinner, they had to serve my meal through a slot in the door because I was trying to break out to be near my mate. Breakfast on the third day was served by Helios, who was grinning at me when he entered. I flung breakfast across the room to kiss him several times for what seemed like a long time. It was fairly inappropriate since the official was standing behind him ready to let me out.  _

_ Once I had calmed down and returned to normal, we were taken to an office. Once there I was updated that since my obvious separation transformation was so volatile, our bond was legitimate. Helios and Belvina’s marriage was annulled yesterday evening, so we were free to bond whenever we deemed appropriate. The official had said this with a blush, having witnessed our passionate greeting not 15 minutes before. I had to magically seal a document officially registering as a Veela in the United Kingdom. Due to this document, once we bonded the Ministry would know and we would be considered married in the eyes of the law.  _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh, jeez, this chapter is risky. Sorry about to lack of Dramione. I feel like we're reading this as Hermione if that helps. I hope no one is disappointed. Full on family interactions next chapter. I love you! Thank you for your support, it really keeps me going! <3


	19. Chapter 18

_Veela bond equals marriage!?_ Hermione thought, _well, it makes sense because it’s a lifetime bond but I am too young to get married! I don’t know if I can handle this. This is going to drive me crazy. I’ll never be able to sleep now._

Hermione got out of bed where she was reading Lucia’s journal and redressed. She left her house to apparate to see Ginny. 

After knocking on the door for a little while Harry finally answered, glasses askew, in boxer shorts and an old t-shirt, “‘Mione, what.. What time is it?” he yawned, 

“Harry, I need to talk to you and Ginny. This is important,” Hermione said as she pushed past, “Ginny! Come down here!” Hermione called up the stairs, and then rushed to the kitchen to make everyone a cup of tea. 

“‘Mione, what’s wrong?” Harry said trailing behind Hermione, 

“I’ll have to marry him, Harry, that’s what’s wrong!” Hermione exclaimed. 

“Wha-?” Harry yawned again,

“What’s up?” Ginny asked groggily as she entered the kitchen.

“I’m going to marry Malfoy.” Hermione said slightly more calmly, 

“I hope I’m dreaming,” Harry blanched. 

“You’ve decided then?” Ginny asked as casually as if they were picking a birthday card. Harry looked at his girlfriend wondering if they were playing a joke on him. 

“No, seriously, what’s going on?” Harry asked

“Harry, Draco is a Veela, and I’m his mate. I’ve decided to accept him as my mate, so we have to bond, which is lawfully binding as a marriage.” Hermione stated matter-of-factly, “I know this may be difficult for you, since Draco was your arch-nemesis in school, but he’s grown up. Besides, if anyone has cause to not forgive him it’s me. But I have forgiven him, so -” 

“Hermione, you’re rambling,” Harry cut in, “No, I get it. He might still be a prick to me, but I’ve seen Fleur and Bill, they’re great for each other. Veela don’t typically harm their mates, so..” 

“You’re right,” Hermione sighed, letting out her tension, 

“But you’re still apprehensive?” Ginny asked. 

“Yes, I just don’t think I’m ready to be married.” 

“If Malfoy doesn’t want this going public, then you’ll just be known as a couple. The law is pretty strict about Veela bond privacy, so it won’t be made public unless you want it to be. You guys don’t have to have a ceremony until you’re ready, or not at all.” Ginny explained.

“Really?” Hermione asked, shocked, 

“Yeah, I was involved with a lot of the planning with Bill and Fleur; mum thought I should know what an engaged woman’s duties are,” Ginny rolled her eyes. 

“That… changes things.” Hermione said, processing that information.

 

_-Three days later-_

 

“I’m so glad you were able to join us for this last-minute dinner tonight, Hermione.” Narcissa Malfoy greeted Hermione, clasping their hands together for a moment in greeting. 

“Oh, it’s no trouble, I didn’t have any plans,” Hermione said with a strained grin. She knew Narcissa had meant to be nice, but there were tough memories to overcome.

“I find that hard to believe, a young person having no Friday night plans. When I was younger I would go out with my friends every Friday and Saturday for a good time. That obviously changed once I was bonded with Lucius, but, there were still wonderful nights out to be had.” Narcissa smiled warmly, gracefully taking her seat in the lavish formal dining room of her own home since she no longer lived in the Manor. 

“And you continued to have fun nights out even after I was born, leaving me with a nurse,” Draco drawled, slightly on edge knowing his mother can sometimes be hard to handle. 

“Uh, I much prefer to stay in and catch up on some reading or my side projects,” Hermione said, trying to cut the tension between Draco and his mother.

“Please, do tell me about your side projects, dear. If you need any assistance, I am quite adept at charms.” 

“Well, I don’t have anything at the moment, but I do hope to aide in amending the rights of house elves. No being should be made a slave. I hope they can get paid for their services and get days off, like any person should.”

“Oh, I see,” Narcissa trailed off,

“And I have been toying with the idea of creating a charm or something to reveal Polyjuice potion or Glamour charms, it may need runes… There’s a lot of reading I need to catch up on that one. But I’ll only have the time to delve into research once the Orphanage is settled.” Hermione added,

“My sister will do a marvellous job running it, I’m sure. But I do hope you’ll have time to plan your wedding, dear. I have so many ideas for it!” 

Hermione nearly choked on her food. 

“Mother!” Draco admonished, 

“Well, you’ll be bonded before that, I daresay, but I see no reason to prolong a traditional wedding ceremony!”

“Mother,” Draco sighed, rubbing with forehand with his hand with agitation, “We haven’t discussed getting publicly married yet, but we will talk about it, and if Hermione wants your assistance with planning then she will ask you. Do not assume anything.” 

“When your father hears about this -” Narcissa started,

“What is he going to do? Come back into the country and breach his probation? Don’t worry about it, you’ll be invited to the wedding at least, he’ll have to read about it and maybe we’ll visit.” Draco stated firmly. 

“Where is Mr Malfoy?” Hermione asked Draco quietly, who sighed in response,

“My grandfather bought whatever land was left of Lucia’s village and built another mansion in her name; she lived there for a while with Helios when they retired. Helios and Abraxas died with Dragonpox in 1996, and when they passed she… followed soon after. Grandfather was already infected when he had visited them, it was rather unfortunate” Draco trailed off. 

“Oh, I see,” Hermione said, 

“Draco,” Narcissa started, but Draco cut in,

“When do you return to Father?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Tomorrow morning. You and Hermione should visit, I’m sure he would love to meet you properly as Draco’s mate.” Narcissa smiled warmly again at Hermione,

“Well, as fun as this has been, mother, I’m afraid we must depart. As Hermione’s parents are currently living in Australia without any memory of her due to certain circumstances, we must have dessert at the Weasley house as they are the closest thing she has to family. Au revoir.” Draco said as he stood and helped Hermione out of her chair. 

Narcissa sighed, she understood the traditions of formally meeting the family of the mate before bonding, but the rift between her and her son was painful. She hoped that once the pair had settled into their own bond that Draco could forgive her a little more. 

“Safe travels,” Narcissa offered as they left. 

“Please give Mr Malfoy my regards, Mrs Malfoy,” Hermione said, 

“That I will, dear,”

\-- 

Molly heard the apparition pop from where she was standing in the kitchen, and she rushed to the front door,

“They’re here! They’re here!” she yelled as she rushed through the house.

Molly opened the front door to find Hermione standing there about to have opened it herself, and both of the women cracked a huge grin at the other,

“Hermione!” Molly cheered as she rushed to give her a hug, 

“Hi Molly,” Hermione giggled, 

“It’s been too long, love, please come in, hang your coat. Draco, well now, look at you! You look well, dear, come on in,” she said as she guided Draco into the landing and helped him out of his coat. 

“Evening, Mrs Weasley,” Draco offered slightly stiffly, 

“Call me Molly, dear. Now, Hermione, I’ve made your favourite blueberry cobbler, and I’ve had a time trying to keep Ron and George away from it, at the moment they’re distracted in the lounge room with Teddy and the rest.” 

“The rest?” Draco nearly gulped, but kept his composure,

“Yes, dear, Arthur, Bill and Fleur, Charlie managed to get some time off just for this evening, he has to go back in the morning, poor dear, George and Angelina, Ron and Susan, Ginny and Harry, Harry was looking after Teddy this weekend.” Molly explained quickly, 

“Draco,” Hermione said solemnly to Draco, holding his face between her hands, “I know your history with Harry and Ron isn’t the best, but please be civil, they are under strict instruction that any rude behaviour will get them a Bat-Bogey from Ginny. I know you have your guard up around them, but please relax and be your charming self,” She smiled at him and she tugged his face down to kiss him solidly on the lips for reassurance. 

“Good pep talk,” Draco smirked at Hermione, and winked at her making her laugh,

“Let’s go then!” Hermione said as she looped her arm in his and Molly lead them both into the lounge room. 

“Here they are!” Molly sang as she rounded the corner with Hermione and Draco behind them. 

“Dwaygo!” Teddy laughed as they ran up to Draco arms up, hair turning from a wavy Weasley-red to Draco’s platinum. Draco picked Teddy up with ease and a smile,

“Hello Teddy, wow, you’ve grown so much since I last saw you!” Draco cooed at the child, 

“Hawwy gave me a bwoom!” Teddy announced, 

“Wow! You’ll be a pro-Quidditch player in no time. I’ll teach you how to be a real Seeker.” Draco said cheekily. 

“We all know I’m the superior Seeker, Malfoy,” Harry challenged, coming up to greet them, 

“Not on your life, Potter,” Draco challenged back with a grin and firm handshake, 

“Well, you’ll have to wait rematch,” Ginny said as she hugged Hermione.

“The Orphanage grounds will be ready for a friendly Quidditch game, soon.” Hermione offered cheerily, 

“I’ll be on Harry’s team as a Keeper,” Ron chirped up from the couch, his arm around Susan, whose head was comfortably resting on his shoulder. 

“You’re my keeper,” Susan said in a hushed voice in his ear, the pair blushed. 

“Hermione, please enlighten me, why are you with Draco Malfoy? Nobody has said anything and it is killing me not knowing. Are you knocked up?” Charlie exaggeratedly whined as he greeted her. Hermione and Draco swapped glances. They had decided to be honest with family and ask them to keep that small fact to themselves.

“She is most definitely not pregnant.” Draco said clearly, “I’m Veela and she’s my mate,” he finished, giving Hermione a small smile. 

“Are you serious? What the fu-” 

“Charles!” Molly cut over him, 

“Pfft - ‘Charles’” Angelina scoffed quietly, grinning wickedly with George, who was fidgeting with something between his fingers. 

“We’re doing the whole formal ‘meet the family’ thing tonight,” Hermione said, “I’ve decided to accept Draco. We would appreciate it if you all kept Draco’s heritage to yourselves and not alert anybody about the nature of our relationship. We will most likely be having a wedding ceremony but not anytime soon. We wanted to appear to be dating first to keep up the appearance of courting tradition.”

“Of course,” Molly gave them both a hug, “We all appreciate your honesty.”

“Cool, but, like, can we eat that cobbler now? “ George asked, grinning, pocketing a ‘Y’ shaped contraption in his pocket. 

“Yes, fine, go, everybody to the kitchen, go!” Molly laughed as she herded everybody to the kitchen to eat dessert. Draco followed, still holding Teddy. 

“I’d like to give a quick toast,” Arthur said once everyone was settled around the table, “Although we’re sad you won’t be marrying one of our sons, Hermione; we want you to know you will always be considered as our daughter,”

“Here, here,” George cheered,

 "And, we hope that, going forward, the Weasley’s and the Malfoy’s will be on better terms, thanks to Hermione’s influence,” 

“Well, my father is banned from the country, so we can all sleep better at night,” Draco added lightly, to which Ginny cracked up laughing, 

“No shit!” Ginny piped up, 

“Ginevra!” Molly chided,

“To the cobbler and those rampant feral blueberry bushes that refuse to be removed!” George toasted,

“To the blueberries!” the siblings cheered, Arthur scoffed that, as usual, one of his children had hijacked one of his toasts and gave Draco a good-humoured grin, which Draco returned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Thank you for your patience, i know, this chapter was a few hours late. I don't know if any one of you have been sitting by, waiting for an update, but it's finally here, but it's still technically Wednesday where i am for another 45 minutes, so i'm safe?? lol.
> 
> So, We jump around a little bit here, i hope that's ok. Next chapter will be the final chapter, and i think i'll include an epilogue eventually. The epilogue won't be included in the weekly update schedule, so, next week final chapter, maybe in a month from then you'll get an epilogue. Once this entire story is over I may go over to edit minor errors and delete all the author notes.
> 
> As always, thank you for your support, every kudos, comment and hit makes me very happy. 
> 
> If you want to contact me via Tumblr let me know and i'll share my username ;P
> 
> PS Lucius had to kill his grandmother because she went crazy from being separated from her mate D: I'm so sorry!! but they had a full and long life together in very happiness! yey?
> 
> PPS (because i'm very sleepy rn and feeling silly) George invented fidget spinners XD


	20. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nudity warning - but not entirely sexual

When Draco and Hermione arrived back at Hermione’s place there was some awkward tension. Hermione hesitated once they had walked through her door and Draco had started removing his shoes.

“Um, so, do we just.. You know?” Hermione stammered, blushing furiously.

“Hmm? What do you mean?” Draco asked distracted already rummaging through the fridge to find something to eat.

“Well… the books don’t really talk about the bonding process but they all imply that it is primarily intercourse related.”

Draco stopped for a moment then laughed.

“If it were just sex wouldn’t that be kind of a let down? Most of those textbook authors don’t have Veela partners so they don’t understand it. It’s like... the hymen myth with it’s obvious ridiculousness, yeah?” Draco asked, wondering if Hermione understood what he meant.

“Hymen myth? What does that have to do with it? And I’m surprised you even know about it.” 

“Well, If the hymen covers the vagina then how does your period get out? It didn’t make sense. Literally nothing changes after a woman has her first sexual experience apart from having an experience. It was all made up bullshit because they didn’t understand or had an ulterior motive in telling women not to have sex, but that’s not what we’re talking about” 

“Okay, first off; how do you know about the hymen myth? Secondly; what does it have to do with veela bonding?” 

“I thought it sounded stupid so I read a book.” Draco stared at Hermione like it was obvious, “And it relates because the facts are skewed to support a messed up system. It makes people think that they can just have sex with a Veela to be a pair or that they take away some of a Veela’s power. It doesn’t work like that exactly. Besides, this being a transformation weekend kind of helps the bonding process go quicker.”

“But how do we bind, then?” Hermione asks, forgetting her awkward shyness,

“We hang out; spend time together, eat together, bathe together, sleep together, talking, reading, just being together. Simple.” Draco shrugged with a lopsided smile, “I’m looking forward to it.”

“And sex?” Hermione asked boldly, 

Draco waggled his eyebrows at her at a mockery of flirtation, “But of course,” He paused, “It has to happen eventually, but only when you’re ready and not in a forced situation, it wouldn’t complete our bonding if we had sex right now, but it would still be fun.” 

“It… actually doesn’t sound terrible,” Hermione said softly, blushing again, Draco waltzed up to her,

“Do you want to have sex with me, Granger?” he said, cupping her chin with one hand,

“Malfoy!” Hermione admonished, swatting his hand with her own and stepping away slightly, “n-not now! I just meant it sounds like a pleasant way to bond to a partner,” 

“I know, I’ve been looking forward to it since Tuesday,”

“Is that why you moved your work to the orphanage! Sneaky pre-acceptance bonding!” Hermione gasped, Draco smirked,

“Slytherin!” He reminded her, “And there’s no such thing a pre-acceptance bonding. If anything, it helped me focus a little better on work being closer to you and it meant I didn’t transform and my mood was better, too. Pre-acceptance bonding doesn’t affect the partner at all, unless they are Veela, too.” 

“Oh, so, I wasn’t affected by your Veela at all before?” 

“No, I think maybe a little bit. The partner feels the pull, but other than that I think you largely remain unchanged. After our bonding you’ll figure out what I mean.” 

“Why does this being a transformation weekend make a difference?” Hermione asked,

“Well, we should complete the bonding before my transformation, I’m not one hundred percent sure what might happen while I’m transformed and we’re halfway through bonding.” he cringed slightly, “Plus, the pheromones are stronger, so it may help you relax a bit more.”

“And sex after spending a lot of time together means a complete bond?” Hermione clarified,

“Yes,” Draco nodded.

“Okay, Hermione said, removing her shoes and walking past Draco to make some tea. He followed her into the kitchen to resume looking through her fridge and pantry for food.

“Are you going to honestly tell me you’re still hungry?” 

“I’m just checking what and how much you’ve got stocked,” 

“Wouldn’t grocery shopping be a bonding experience?” Hermione asked with a teasing tone,

“I’m not sure, Pureblood wizards don’t go grocery shopping, so I don’t have a lot of data about it.” 

Hermione snorted a laugh, waiting for the kettle to boil. Draco’s arms were suddenly wrapped around her middle, he was standing behind her, his nose next to her ear.

“I really like your laugh, it makes me want to laugh with you. I remember seeing you laugh a few times at school, there was one time in the Great Hall, but it was too loud to hear for me to hear it, and I had wished I could. Sooner after that there was a time in the library, and I heard it that time. I almost got caught out by my friends smiling along with you, but I quickly covered it up with a sarcastic smirk and a rude comment. I’m so happy I don’t have to hide that now.” He whispered in her ear then placed a gentle kiss on her neck. Hermione’s breath caught, both by the admission and the intimate kiss. Draco hugged her for a moment longer before letting her go to explore the rest of her apartment more closely.  

Draco was glad to see that Hermione had a double bed, a queen size would allow them more room to spread out, but a double meant they would be closer by necessity, but more comfortable than if she had a single bed. Draco moved on the her bathroom which was just as small as he had thought it might be. He was horrified to see a shower head facing into the small bathtub. Shaking his head he went back to the kitchen where Hermione had two cups of tea waiting and a packet of biscuits open.

“Would you mind if I transfigured the bathtub bigger?” Draco asked,

“I would mind, the magical energy will interfere with the appliances in my house and to my neighbours.” She stated, dunking half her biscuit in her tea. Draco copied her. 

“That’s a shame,” he remarked, chewing his now pleasantly warm and soggy biscuit, “I was looking forward to bathing with you. I wonder if we could relocate to the manor, there’s a bathtub triple the size of yours and twice as deep. I could help you get all those hard to reach places,” He winked at her. 

“Maybe tomorrow. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. Do you mind if I read for a little while in bed, you know, after this tea and brushing my teeth,” 

“Oh, no, that’s totally fine. I might join you, where are your books hiding?”

“Uhh, fiction or non-fiction,” Hermione grinned.

“Fiction,” 

The first night they read together in bed, enjoying the company, often sneaking glances at the other just to see them concentrating on their books. Draco fell asleep first, his book resting on his chest, his head angled towards Hermione’s shoulder. Hermione noticed his breathing deepen and he had stopped turning pages. She grinned to herself at the sight of Draco Malfoy falling asleep over a book. She placed their books on the bedside table and helped him shift down in the bed so his neck didn’t hurt. Draco turn to face away from Hermione as he got himself comfortable. Hermione scooted up close behind him and put her arm around his waist, her forehead resting forward on his neck so she could be immersed in his smell. That was the best night sleep either had had for some time. 

\--

The next morning Draco and Hermione when to a nearby local market to buy some fruit and vegetables. They also found some items to eat for breakfast, enjoying the walking side-by-side in the sunshine. 

“So, what do you usually do on weekends?” Draco asked, 

“Um, not much, catch up and get ahead on some work, maybe organise a list of things that need to happen and follow up on some things that might have been forgotten. Buy food for the week. Maybe research a little bit.” 

“Do you see your friends at all?”

“Oh, yes, when Ginny is back from training we have dinner. I sometimes check on Harry to make sure he’s feeding himself, but Kreacher makes sure he remembers to eat, so we usually just chat. I don’t really see Ron that much anymore, and I’ve been avoiding visiting the Burrow..” Hermione trailed off. “What about you?” 

“There’s always work to catch up on, but I try to keep business and my personal life separate, present company obviously excluded for reasons out of our control,” He grinned, taking her hand in his as they walked, “I have lunch and dinner with Pansy, Blaise and Theo most Saturdays, visit my mother sometimes. I like to sleep in until ten, so, this still feels early for me. Sundays I wonder around muggle London and visit art galleries and museums. There’s so much history that I wasn’t taught, but there’s also so much crossover with our history; the muggles were told another reason for whatever the truth is. For instance, the Great Fire of 1666, the muggles think it was because of a baker, when we know it was because some idiot wizard had been trying to smuggle in and sell lizard sized dragons.”

“And it still took the ministry to outlaw dragon breeding for another thirty years,” Hermione ‘tsk-ed’,

“I have to say, you are the only person who doesn’t poke fun at me spouting random facts,” Draco sighed,

“Well, I am a know-it-all, so, I don’t mind.” Hermione squeezed Draco’s hand with affection, biting her bottom lip while looking up at him. 

\--

After lunch, Hermione stood to wash the dishes and Draco watched from his seat the small dining table. 

“Okay, Draco, I’m going for a shower, want to join me?” Hermione asks evenly, although she’s nervous on the inside, never having been so blunt about something so personal before.

“Sure,” was all Draco responded with, and he followed her to the bathroom, taking note of the cupboard she keeps her spare linens and towels in, as she takes out two. 

“I’ve never showered with someone before, how do-?” 

“Just do whatever you normally do. Do you want to be distracted by talking about the ethics of stereotyping goblins as bankers and why it could cause a collapse in our only banking institution?” Draco offered kindly. 

Hermione laughed a little, “No, that’s alright, maybe something a little lighter. What about dinner?” She asked and she tied her hair up into a messy bun on the crown of her head. 

“Alright, we’ll take it easy for now,” Draco smirked, starting the shower. 

“Do you eat more food or less before a transformation?” she asked, removing her polo shirt, deliberately looking away from Draco.

“Uh, more food before and after. I don’t really eat during, and it takes a lot of energy to change.” Draco said, distracted by Hermione’s skin, now seeing her small breasts in her simple white bra. He quickly followed suit and removed his own shirt. 

“So, what should we have for dinner tonight? Something high calorie and probably bad for you like pizza, or brown rice, beans, tofu, veg, whatever else vegan I have in my house?” Hermione asked, removing her jeans. She glanced over at Draco, and saw him watching her, she felt self-conscious. 

“Sorry,” Draco, blushed, “You’re so beautiful. I promise I won’t take this too far. Finish undressing and hop in the shower, I’ll face the wall for a bit.” Draco stood facing the wall, feeling his dick harden, cursing himself that it will look like he wants to have sex, but he would like to keep it innocent if she wants to. In all of Draco’s fantasies he couldn’t come up with something better than reality. Sure Hermione had stretch marks and scars, but she was Hermione and he loved her. Her skin looked so soft, he hoped he could touch her hips, stomach, thighs, to see if they felt as nice as they looked.  _ She’s perfect, _ he thought.

Draco cleared his throat a bit, “Pizza is fine, if we get a lot I can have leftovers for breakfast.” he said removing his trousers and pants. 

*

Hermione quickly slid out of her underwear while Draco faced the wall and stepped into the shower spray. She was able to look over Draco’s back, which looks lean and strong, his shoulders were wider now as an adult then when she had last seen him when they left school. He had filled out nicely and his bum looked firm. Hermione really wanted to scratch his back with her nails, and maybe bite his shoulders, he just looked so fit. Hermione inhaled slowly to calm down a little. She started rinsing the warm water over her neck to loosen up some tension and she exhaled.  _ He promised not to make this sexual unless I wanted it, it’s fine. You just haven’t been with someone in a while. Relax, you’re in control here,  _ Hermione told herself. She heard Draco cough and say pizza is fine for dinner. 

*

“Sounds like a plan, ok, I’m ready to soap up, so you better get in here!” Hermione called.

“Yes, boss!” Draco said as he moved the curtain over and tried not to make a big deal of seeing his mate and long-time crush completely naked, and trying to act as if his penis isn’t fully erect and ready to go whenever she wants. “Erm, I’ll just.. Get under the sprHEEE! Oh Merlin, that’s hot! Turn it down, turn it down,” Draco squealed as he turn the taps to bring the water temperature down to something less like lava.

Hermione giggling behind him, “Sorry!” she simpered. 

The rest of the shower was much more relaxed. Hermione had used her mango shower gel and loofah to scrub herself, and when she was done, Draco got out of the spray and used the gel on himself with his hands. When he was done, Hermione was still rinsing the suds off, so he elbowed his way in closer to try and rinse off in what little spray he could find. In the small space, he had accidently poked Hermione in the ribs, to which she squealed in giggly surprised and almost lost her balance, but grabbed onto Draco’s shoulders for support, which brought him more under the water spray and closer to her body.

The were smiling at each other in contented happiness. Draco inched forward, and Hermione leaned up and they shared a soft and sensual kiss under the shower spray. 

“You all clean?” Draco asked,

“Yeah,” Hermione said, leaving him behind to dry herself off. Draco turned the shower off and followed suit to dry off. The dried off next to each other in comfortable silence. It felt nice to be around the person you love stark naked and for it to not be entirely sexual. It felt like they were close and warm and accepted you. Hermione smiled to herself. She didn’t think she could feel so calm and quiet around another person. Hermione was finished drying before Draco, on her way out of the bathroom, she gave Draco’s naked bum a firm and appreciative smack and ran out of the room across the hall to her bedroom. 

“Hey!” Draco said as he chased after her. When he caught up to her he grabbed her around her middle, her back to him, and she squirmed around to face him and gave him a deep and passionate kiss, which is fervently returned. 

“Draco,” Hermione said, “I feel really good, I feel like I never want this weekend to end. I love you.” She kissed him again.

“Are you ready? Are you sure?” He asked between kissing and catching his breath. 

“Yes, I want to complete this bond and be your mate.” 

Draco led Hermione to the bed and they made slow and unbelievable fulfilling love for the first time. Hermione felt like her soul and opened up and their magic and intertwined making them two halves of a whole. Draco got to touch her hips, stomach and thighs like he had wanted, and Hermione scratched his back and bit his shoulder like she wanted. 

They may be mates, and they will not always agree, but they both knew that with running the orphanage together they could help many people find a place to belong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the ending for now. I will post an epilogue in about four or five weeks. I have another 50 hour a week four week contracts (starting tomorrow!! so i should be sleeping right now). So I'll try and write bits and pieces whenever i have the energy.
> 
> I do hope you liked this finale chapter. Please let me know. 
> 
> I think the story went somewhere i wasn't expecting when i started, but i needed to keep going and get this published up here. Personal Achievement Unlocked! Posting a finished multi-chapter story. I'm actually so proud right now, even thought i know this isn't the best work out here. I wanted to try something different with the Veela!Malfoy trope. I got no beta or editor so the only person reigning me in is myself and sometimes i'm really bad at it! 
> 
> AS ALWAYS: I do so much appreciate all the comments, kudos, bookmarks and hits. 
> 
> <3 Much love.


End file.
